The Venetian city state was founded as a safe haven for the people escaping persecution in mainland Europe after the decline of the Roman Empire. In its early years, it prospered on the salt trade. In subsequent centuries, the city state established a thalassocracy. It dominated trade on the Mediterranean Sea, including commerce between Europe and North Africa, as well as Asia. The Venetian navy was used in the Crusades, most notably in the Fourth Crusade. Venice achieved territorial conquests along the Adriatic Sea. The city became home to an extremely wealthy merchant class, who patronized renowned art and architecture along the city's lagoons. Venetian merchants were influential financiers in Europe. The city was also the birthplace of great European explorers, especially Marco Polo, as well as Baroque composers such as Vivaldi and Benedetto Marcello.

The republic was ruled by the Doge, who was elected by members of the Great Council of Venice, the city-state's parliament. The ruling class was an oligarchy of merchants and aristocrats. Venice and other Italian maritime republics played a key role in fostering capitalism. Venetian citizens generally supported the system of governance. The city-state enforced strict laws and employed ruthless tactics in its prisons.

The opening of new trade routes to the Americas and the East Indies via the Atlantic Ocean marked the beginning of Venice's decline as a powerful maritime republic. The city state suffered defeats from the navy of the Ottoman Empire. In 1797, the republic was plundered by retreating Austrian and then French forces, following an invasion by Napoleon Bonaparte, and the Republic of Venice was split into the Austrian Venetian Province, the Cisalpine Republic, a French client state, and the Ionian French departments of Greece. Venice then became a part of a unified Italy in the 19th century.

It was formally known as the Most Serene Republic of Venice (Italian: Serenissima Repubblica di Venezia, Venetian: Serenìsima Repùblica Vèneta, or Venetian: Repùblica de Venesia) and is often referred to as La Serenissima, in reference to its title as one of the "Most Serene Republics".

The winged Lion of St. Mark, which had appeared on the Republic's flag and coat of arms, is still featured in the red-yellow flag of the city of Venice (which has six tails, one for each sestier of the city), in the coat of arms of the city and in the yellow-red-blue flag of Veneto (which has seven tails representing the seven provinces of the region).

The winged lion also appears in the naval ensign of the Italian Republic, alongside the coat of arms of three other medieval Italian maritime republics (Genoa, Pisa, and Amalfi).

During the 5th century, North East Italy was devastated by the Germanic invasions. A large number of the inhabitants moved to the coastal lagoons, looking for a safer place. Here they established a collection of lagoon communities, stretching over about 130 km from Chioggia in the south to Grado in the north, who banded together for mutual defence from the Lombards, Huns, and other invading peoples as the power of the Western Roman Empire dwindled in northern Italy.

At some point in the first decades of the eighth century, the people of the Byzantine province of Venice elected their first leader Ursus (or Orso Ipato), who was confirmed by Constantinople and given the titles of hypatus and dux. He was the first historical Doge of Venice. Tradition, however, first attested in the early 11th century, states that the Venetians first proclaimed one Anafestus Paulicius duke in 697, though this story dates to no earlier than the chronicle of John the Deacon. Whichever the case, the first doges had their power base in Heraclea.

Ursus's successor, Deusdedit, moved his seat from Heraclea to Malamocco in the 740s. He was the son of Ursus and represented the attempt of his father to establish a dynasty. Such attempts were more than commonplace among the doges of the first few centuries of Venetian history, but all were ultimately unsuccessful. During the reign of Deusdedit, Venice became the only remaining Byzantine possession in the north and the changing politics of the Frankish Empire began to change the factional divisions within Venetia. One faction was decidedly pro-Byzantine. They desired to remain well-connected to the Empire. Another faction, republican in nature, believed in continuing along a course towards practical independence. The other main faction was pro-Frankish. Supported mostly by clergy (in line with papal sympathies of the time), they looked towards the new Carolingian king of the Franks, Pepin the Short, as the best provider of defence against the Lombards. A minor, pro-Lombard faction was opposed to close ties with any of these further-off powers and interested in maintaining peace with the neighbouring (and surrounding, but for the sea) Lombard kingdom.

The successors of Obelerio inherited a united Venice. By the Pax Nicephori (803-814), the two emperors had recognised that Venice belonged to the Byzantine sphere of influence. Many centuries later, the Venetians claimed that the treaty had recognised Venetian de facto independence, but the truth of this claim is doubted by modern scholars. A Byzantine fleet sailed to Venice in 807 and deposed the Doge, replacing him with a Byzantine governor. Nevertheless, during the reign of the Participazio family, Venice grew into its modern form. Though Heraclean by birth, Agnello, the first Participazio doge, was an early immigrant to Rialto and his dogeship was marked by the expansion of Venice towards the sea via the construction of bridges, canals, bulwarks, fortifications, and stone buildings. The modern Venice, at one with the sea, was being born. Agnello was succeeded by his son Giustiniano, who stole the remains of Saint Mark the Evangelist from Alexandria, took them to Venice, and made him the republic's patron saint.

Map of the Venetian Republic, circa 1000

During the reign of the successor of the Participazio, Pietro Tradonico, Venice began to establish its military might, which would influence many a later crusade and dominate the Adriatic for centuries. Tradonico secured the sea by fighting Narentine and Saracen pirates. Tradonico's reign was long and successful (837–64), but he was succeeded by the Participazio and a dynasty appeared to have been finally established. Around 841, the Republic of Venice sent a fleet of 60 galleys (each carrying 200 men) to assist the Byzantines in driving the Arabs from Crotone, but it failed.[1] In 1000, Pietro II Orseolo sent a fleet of 6 ships to defeat the Narentine pirates from Dalmatia.[2]

The Venetians also gained extensive trading privileges in the Byzantine Empire during the 12th century, and their ships often provided the Empire with a navy. In 1182, a vicious anti-Western riot broke out in Constantinople targeting Latins, and Venetians in particular. Many in the Empire had become jealous of Venetian power and influence, thus when the pretender Andronikos I Komnenos marched on the city, Venetian property was seized and the owners imprisoned or banished, an act which humiliated and angered the republic. In 1183, the city of Zara (Croatian: Zadar) successfully rebelled against Venetian rule. The city then put itself under the dual protection of the papacy and Emeric, King of Hungary. The Dalmatians separated from Hungary by a treaty in 1199, and they paid Hungary with a portion of Macedonia. In 1201, the city of Zara recognized Emeric as overlord.

The leaders of the Fourth Crusade (1202–04) contracted with Venice to provide a fleet for transportation to the Levant. When the crusaders were unable to pay for the ships, Doge Enrico Dandolo offered transport if the crusaders were to capture Zara, a city that had rebelled years ago and was a concurrent to Venice. Upon the capture of Zara, the crusade was again diverted, this time to Constantinople. The capture and sacking of Constantinople has been described as one of the most profitable and disgraceful sacks of a city in history.[6] The Venetians claimed much of the plunder, including the famous four bronze horses that were brought back to adorn St Mark's Basilica. Furthermore, in the subsequent partition of the Byzantine lands, Venice gained a great deal of territory in the Aegean Sea, theoretically amounting to three-eighths of the Byzantine Empire. It also acquired the islands of Crete (Candia) and Euboea (Negroponte); the present core city of Chania on Crete is largely of Venetian construction, built atop the ruins of the ancient city of Cydonia.[7] The Aegean islands came to form the Venetian Duchy of the Archipelago. The Byzantine Empire was re-established in 1261 by Michael VIII Palaiologos, but never again recovered its previous power, and was eventually conquered by the Ottoman Turks.

In 1295, Pietro Gradenigo sent a fleet of 68 ships to attack a Genoese fleet at Alexandretta, then another fleet of 100 ships was sent to attack the Genoese in 1299.[9] From 1350 to 1381, Venice fought an intermittent war with the Genoese. Initially defeated, they devastated the Genoese fleet at the Battle of Chioggia in 1380 and retained their prominent position in eastern Mediterranean affairs at the expense of Genoa's declining empire.

In 1363, the revolt of Saint Titus against Venetian rule broke out in the overseas colony of Candia (Crete). It was a joint effort of Venetian colonists and Cretan nobles who attempted to create an independent state. Venice sent a multinational mercenary army which soon regained control of the major cities. However, Venice was not able to fully reconquer Crete until 1368.

Venice expanded as well along the Dalmatian coast from Istria to Albania, which was acquired from King Ladislaus of Naples during the civil war in Hungary. Ladislaus was about to lose the conflict and had decided to escape to Naples, but before doing so, he agreed to sell his now practically forfeit rights on the Dalmatian cities for the reduced sum of 100,000 ducats.

Venice exploited the situation and quickly installed nobility to govern the area, for example, Count Filippo Stipanov in Zara. This move by the Venetians was a response to the threatening expansion of Giangaleazzo Visconti, Duke of Milan. Control over the northeast main land routes was also a necessity for the safety of the trades. By 1410, Venice had a navy of 3,300 ships (manned by 36,000 men) and taken over most of what is now the Veneto, including the cities of Verona (which swore its loyalty in the Devotion of Verona to Venice in 1405) and Padua.[10]

The situation in Dalmatia had been settled in 1408 by a truce with King Sigismund of Hungary, but the difficulties of Hungary finally granted to the republic the consolidation of its Adriatic dominions. At the expiration of the truce in 1420, Venice immediately invaded the Patriarchate of Aquileia, and subjected Traù, Spalato, Durazzo, and other Dalmatian cities. In Lombardy, Venice acquired Brescia in 1426, Bergamo in 1428, and Cremona in 1499.

Slaves were plentiful in the Italian city-states as late as the 15th century. Between 1414 and 1423, some 10,000 slaves, imported from Caffa, were sold in Venice.[11]

The Ottoman Empire started sea campaigns as early as 1423, when it waged a seven-year war with the Venetian Republic over maritime control of the Aegean, the Ionian, and the Adriatic Seas. The wars with Venice resumed after Ottomans captured Kingdom of Bosnia in 1463, and lasted until a favorable peace treaty was signed in 1479 just after the troublesome siege of Shkodra. In 1480 (now no longer hampered by the Venetian fleet), the Ottomans besieged Rhodes and briefly captured Otranto. By 1490, the population of Venice had risen to about 180,000 people.[12]

Venice's attention was diverted from its usual maritime position by the delicate situation in Romagna, then one of the richest lands in Italy, which was nominally part of the Papal States, but effectively divided into a series of small lordships which were difficult for Rome's troops to control. Eager to take some of Venice's lands, all neighbouring powers joined in the League of Cambrai in 1508, under the leadership of Pope Julius II. The pope wanted Romagna; Emperor Maximilian I: Friuli and Veneto; Spain: the Apulian ports; the king of France: Cremona; the king of Hungary: Dalmatia, and each one some of another's part. The offensive against the huge army enlisted by Venice was launched from France.

On 14 May 1509, Venice was crushingly defeated at the battle of Agnadello, in the Ghiara d'Adda, marking one of the most delicate points in Venetian history. French and imperial troops were occupying Veneto, but Venice managed to extricate itself through diplomatic efforts. The Apulian ports were ceded in order to come to terms with Spain, and pope Julius II soon recognized the danger brought by the eventual destruction of Venice (then the only Italian power able to face kingdoms like France or empires like the Ottomans).

The citizens of the mainland rose to the cry of "Marco, Marco", and Andrea Gritti recaptured Padua in July 1509, successfully defending it against the besieging imperial troops. Spain and the pope broke off their alliance with France, and Venice regained Brescia and Verona from France, also. After seven years of ruinous war, the Serenissima regained its mainland dominions west to the Adda River. Although the defeat had turned into a victory, the events of 1509 marked the end of the Venetian expansion.

Giovan Battista Tiepolo's Neptune offers the wealth of the sea to Venice, 1748–50, an allegory of the power of the Republic of Venice, as the wealth and power of the Serenissima was based on the control of the sea

In 1489, the first year of Venetian control of Cyprus, Turks attacked the Karpasia Peninsula, pillaging and taking captives to be sold into slavery. In 1539, the Turkish fleet attacked and destroyed Limassol. Fearing the ever-expanding Ottoman Empire, the Venetians had fortified Famagusta, Nicosia, and Kyrenia, but most other cities were easy prey. By 1563, the population of Venice had dropped to about 168,000 people.[12]

In the summer of 1570, the Turks struck again, but this time with a full-scale invasion rather than a raid. About 60,000 troops, including cavalry and artillery, under the command of Mustafa Pasha landed unopposed near Limassol on 2 July 1570, and laid siege to Nicosia. In an orgy of victory on the day that the city fell – 9 September 1570 – 20,000 Nicosians were put to death, and every church, public building, and palace was looted.[13] Word of the massacre spread, and a few days later, Mustafa took Kyrenia without having to fire a shot. Famagusta, however, resisted and put up a defense that lasted from September 1570 until August 1571.

The fall of Famagusta marked the beginning of the Ottoman period in Cyprus. Two months later, the naval forces of the Holy League, composed mainly of Venetian, Spanish, and papal ships under the command of Don John of Austria, defeated the Turkish fleet at the Battle of Lepanto.[14] Despite victory at sea over the Turks, Cyprus remained under Ottoman rule for the next three centuries. By 1575, the population of Venice was about 175,000 people, but partly as a result of the plague of 1575–76 dropped to 124,000 people by 1581.[12]

In 1606, a conflict between Venice and the Holy See began with the arrest of two clerics accused of petty crimes, and with a law restricting the Church's right to enjoy and acquire landed property. Pope Paul V held that these provisions were contrary to canon law, and demanded that they be repealed. When this was refused, he placed Venice under an interdict. The Republic paid no attention to the interdict or the act of excommunication, and ordered its priests to carry out their ministry. It was supported in its decisions by the Servite monk Paolo Sarpi, a sharp polemical writer who was nominated to be the Signoria's adviser on theology and canon law in 1606. The interdict was lifted after a year, when France intervened and proposed a formula of compromise. Venice was satisfied with reaffirming the principle that no citizen was superior to the normal processes of law.[citation needed]

The latter half of the 17th century also had prolonged wars with the Ottoman Empire; in the Cretan War (1645–1669), after a heroic siege that lasted 24 years, Venice lost its major overseas possession, the island of Crete, while it made some advances in Dalmatia. In 1684, however, taking advantage of the Ottoman involvement against Austria in the Great Turkish War, the republic initiated the Morean War, which lasted until 1699 and in which it was able to conquer the Morea peninsula in southern Greece.

These gains did not last, however; in December 1714, the Turks began the last Turkish–Venetian War, when the Morea was "without any of those supplies which are so desirable even in countries where aid is near at hand which are not liable to attack from the sea".[15]

The Turks took the islands of Tinos and Aegina, crossed the isthmus, and took Corinth. Daniele Dolfin, commander of the Venetian fleet, thought it better to save the fleet than risk it for the Morea. When he eventually arrived on the scene, Nauplia, Modon, Corone, and Malvasia had fallen. Levkas in the Ionian islands, and the bases of Spinalonga and Suda on Crete which still remained in Venetian hands, were abandoned. The Turks finally landed on Corfù, but its defenders managed to throw them back.

In the meantime, the Turks had suffered a grave defeat by the Austrians in the Battle of Petrovaradin on 5 August 1716. Venetian naval efforts in the Aegean Sea and the Dardanelles in 1717 and 1718, however, met with little success. With the Treaty of Passarowitz (21 July 1718), Austria made large territorial gains, but Venice lost the Morea, for which its small gains in Albania and Dalmatia were little compensation. This was the last war with the Ottoman Empire. By the year 1792, the once-great Venetian merchant fleet had declined to a mere 309 merchantmen.[16]

Although Venice declined as a seaborne empire, it remained in possession of its continental domain north of the Po Valley, extending west almost to Milan. Many of its cities benefited greatly from the Pax Venetiae (Venetian peace) throughout the 18th century.

By 1796, the Republic of Venice could no longer defend itself since its war fleet numbered only four galleys and seven galliots.[17] In spring 1796, Piedmont fell and the Austrians were beaten from Montenotte to Lodi. The army under Bonaparte crossed the frontiers of neutral Venice in pursuit of the enemy. By the end of the year, the French troops were occupying the Venetian state up to the Adige. Vicenza, Cadore and Friuli were held by the Austrians. With the campaigns of the next year, Napoleon aimed for the Austrian possessions across the Alps. In the preliminaries to the Peace of Leoben, the terms of which remained secret, the Austrians were to take the Venetian possessions in the Balkans as the price of peace (18 April 1797), while France required the Lombard part of the State.

After Napoleon's ultimatum, Doge Ludovico Manin surrendered unconditionally on 12 May, and abdicated himself, while the Major Council declared the end of the republic. According to Bonaparte's orders, the public powers passed to a provisional municipality under the French military governor. On 17 October, France and Austria signed the Treaty of Campo Formio, agreeing the sharing of all the territory of the ancient republic, with a new border just west of the Adige River. Italian democrats, especially young poet Ugo Foscolo, viewed the treaty as a betrayal. The metropolitan part of the disbanded republic became an Austrian territory, under the name of Venetian Province (Provincia Veneta in Italian, Provinz Venedig in German).

Though the economic vitality of the Venetian Republic had started to decline since the 16th century due to the movement of international trade towards the Atlantic, its political regime still appeared in the 18th century as a model for the philosophers of the enlightenment.

In the early years of the republic, the Doge of Venice ruled Venice in an autocratic fashion, but later his powers were limited by the promissione ducale, a pledge he had to take when elected. As a result, powers were shared with the Maggior Consiglio or Great Council, composed of 480 members taken from patrician families, so that in the words of Marin Sanudo, "[The Doge] could do nothing without the Great Council and the Great Council could do nothing without him".

Venice followed a mixed government model, combining monarchy in the doge, aristocracy in the senate, and a "democracy" of Rialto families in the major council.[19] Machiavelli considered it "excellent among modern republics" (unlike his native Florence).[20][21]

The governmental structure of Venice

In the 12th century, the aristocratic families of Rialto further diminished the doge's powers by establishing the Minor Council (1175), composed of the six ducal councillors, and the Council of Forty or Quarantia (1179) as a supreme tribunal. In 1223, these institutions were combined into the Signoria, which consisted of the doge, the Minor Council, and the three leaders of the Quarantia. The Signoria was the central body of government, representing the continuity of the republic as shown in the expression: "si è morto il Doge, no la Signoria" ("If the Doge is dead, the Signoria is not"). During the late 14th and early 15th centuries, the Signoria was supplemented by a number of boards of savii ("wise men"): the six savii del consiglio, who formulated and executed government policy; the five savii di terraferma, responsible for military affairs and the defence of the Terraferma; five the savii ai ordini, responsible for the navy, commerce, and the overseas territories. Together, the Signoria and the savii formed the Full College (Pien Collegio), the de facto executive body of the Republic.

In 1229, the Consiglio dei Pregadi or Senate, was formed, being 60 members elected by the major council.[22] These developments left the doge with little personal power and put actual authority in the hands of the Great Council.

The hearing given by the Doge in the Sala del Collegio in Doge's Palace by Francesco Guardi, 1775–80

In 1310, a Council of Ten was established, becoming the central political body whose members operated in secret. Around 1600, its dominance over the major council was considered a threat and efforts were made in the council and elsewhere to reduce its powers, with limited success.

In 1454, the Supreme Tribunal of the three state inquisitors was established to guard the security of the republic. By means of espionage, counterespionage, internal surveillance, and a network of informers, they ensured that Venice did not come under the rule of a single "signore", as many other Italian cities did at the time. One of the inquisitors – popularly known as Il Rosso ("the red one") because of his scarlet robe – was chosen from the Doge's councillors, two – popularly known as I negri ("the black ones") because of their black robes – were chosen from the Council of Ten. The Supreme Tribunal gradually assumed some of the powers of the Council of Ten.[22]

In 1556, the provveditori ai beni inculti were also created for the improvement of agriculture by increasing the area under cultivation and encouraging private investment in agricultural improvement. The consistent rise in the price of grain during the 16th century encouraged the transfer of capital from trade to the land.

Contarini, Gasparo (1599). The Commonwealth and Government of Venice. Lewes Lewkenor, translator. London: "Imprinted by I. Windet for E. Mattes". The most important contemporary account of Venice's governance during the time of its blossoming; numerous reprint editions; online facsimile[permanent dead link].

Laven, Mary (2002). Virgins of Venice: Enclosed Lives and Broken Vows in the Renaissance Convent. The most important study of the life of Renaissance nuns, with much on aristocratic family networks and the life of women more generally.

Martin, John Jeffries and Dennis Romano (eds.) (2002). Venice Reconsidered: The History and Civilization of an Italian City-State, 1297–1797. Johns Hopkins UP. The most recent collection on essays, many by prominent scholars, on Venice.

1.
Venetian independence referendum, 2014
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The Venetian independence referendum of 2014 was an unofficial, non-binding, online and privately organised poll held among residents of Veneto, one of the 20 regions of Italy, 16–21 March 2014. The vote, known also as the digital plebiscite or Plebiscito. eu, was promoted by Plebiscite 2013, according to Plebiscito. eus staff,2.36 million Venetians participated in the online referendum and 89. 1% of them voted yes to independence. P2013 proclaimed Venetos independence from Italy in Treviso on the night of 21 March, turnout and results were questioned by many news sources based on publicly available website traffic statistics released by Alexa Internet and similar providers. According to the critics, throughout the duration of the poll, moreover, a significant proportion of this traffic came from outside Italy, with 10% coming from Santiago, Chile alone. Among those voting, 78% favoured independence, moreover, Diamanti found that 55% of all eligible voters favoured independence, which was opposed by 39%. Other polling firms, including Ixè and Istituto Piepoli, offered comparable data, Plebiscito. eu, for its part, announced on 29 March that a short report on the referendum by a committee of international observers would be soon presented. The president of the committee, former ambassador of Georgia to Italy, Beglar Davit Tavartkiladze, on 28 March 2015, as reported in detail below, Plebiscito. On 1 April Busato declared that With the Final Report signed and delivered in Venice on 28 March 2015, finally, until proven otherwise, no other can today legally represent Veneto internationally about its full and legitimate political independence. The staff of Plebiscito. eu Gianluca Busato,191 of the UE Commission regarding assistance and monitoring of elections by the UE. It was verified that polls were made in a responsible and transparent way, voting was made in a free environment, electors could express their preference without any intimidation, violence or administrative interference. Voting secrecy was assured, except some limited cases of persons unable to express e-vote without assistance, furthermore, votes counting was honest, with no possibility of alteration, and votes announcement was prompt. Observers have been free to verify, directly or indirectly, every step of the voting process, before, during. The Committee of International Observers has invited its members to meet in Venice, in order to discuss the recommendations of the Final Report, Venice,28 March 2015 The event was covered by several international media. On 1 April 2014 a committee of the Regional Council of Veneto put forward bills calling for a referendum on independence, the final document was approved by Liga Veneta–Lega Nord, Forza Italia, New Centre Right, Union of the Centre, Italy of Values and North-East Union. On 28 April, during a visit in Veneto, Minister of Interior Angelino Alfano acknowledged that there is a Venetian question, in reference to what he called Agenda Veneto, he said, We think that Veneto could be the laboratory for a form of strong and advanced federalism. We cannot close our eyes in front of independentist risings, the answer is dual, enhancing autonomy and improving the governments services. On 10 June the Regional Council discussed and passed a law concerning five referendum questions concerning special autonomy, on 12 June the same legislative assembly passed Valdegamberis 342/2013 bill in order to hold a referendum on the independence with 30 yeas,12 nays and 3 abstentions. On 26 June 2015 the Constitutional Court ruled the independence referendum out as contrary to the Constitution, but authorised one of the five autonomy referenda

2.
Italian language
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By most measures, Italian, together with Sardinian, is the closest to Latin of the Romance languages. Italian is a language in Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City. Italian is spoken by minorities in places such as France, Montenegro, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Crimea and Tunisia and by large expatriate communities in the Americas. Many speakers are native bilinguals of both standardized Italian and other regional languages, Italian is the fourth most studied language in the world. Italian is a major European language, being one of the languages of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe. It is the third most widely spoken first language in the European Union with 65 million native speakers, including Italian speakers in non-EU European countries and on other continents, the total number of speakers is around 85 million. Italian is the working language of the Holy See, serving as the lingua franca in the Roman Catholic hierarchy as well as the official language of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta. Italian is known as the language of music because of its use in musical terminology and its influence is also widespread in the arts and in the luxury goods market. Italian has been reported as the fourth or fifth most frequently taught foreign language in the world, Italian was adopted by the state after the Unification of Italy, having previously been a literary language based on Tuscan as spoken mostly by the upper class of Florentine society. Its development was influenced by other Italian languages and to some minor extent. Its vowels are the second-closest to Latin after Sardinian, unlike most other Romance languages, Italian retains Latins contrast between short and long consonants. As in most Romance languages, stress is distinctive, however, Italian as a language used in Italy and some surrounding regions has a longer history. What would come to be thought of as Italian was first formalized in the early 14th century through the works of Tuscan writer Dante Alighieri, written in his native Florentine. Dante is still credited with standardizing the Italian language, and thus the dialect of Florence became the basis for what would become the language of Italy. Italian was also one of the recognised languages in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Italy has always had a dialect for each city, because the cities. Those dialects now have considerable variety, as Tuscan-derived Italian came to be used throughout Italy, features of local speech were naturally adopted, producing various versions of Regional Italian. Even in the case of Northern Italian languages, however, scholars are not to overstate the effects of outsiders on the natural indigenous developments of the languages

3.
Flag of Veneto
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The flag of the Italian region of Veneto derives from the flag historically used by the Republic of Venice, a maritime republic centered on the modern city of Venice. The modern flag was adopted by Legge Regionale 20 maggio 1975, n.56 and amended by L. R. del 22 febbraio 1999, Regione Veneto also has a banner, its design identical to the flags except in its vertical orientation. The main overall layout and design of the Venetian banner was kept. The coat of arms of the Region is set in a square in the center of the flag, attached to the fly edge are seven tails. Each one bears in the middle the coat of arms of one of Venetos seven province capitals, sorted in alphabetical order. The Lion is no longer on a red field, the tails were six, representing the six sestieri, whilst the new flag has seven tails, containing the flags of the provinces of Veneto. Dark blue has been added to the red and gold decorations, media related to Flag of Veneto at Wikimedia Commons

4.
Eraclea
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Eraclea is a small city and comune in the province of Venice, Veneto, Italy. It is located on the Adriatic coast between the towns of Caorle and Jesolo, from its founding until 742 AD, the Republic of Venice had its capital based in Eraclea. Eraclea Mare, one of the destinations of summer tourism on the Adriatic riviera, is together with Jesolo, a steady growth of foreign tourists, especially from Germany, has been recently recorded. In 2009, Eraclea Mare was awarded the 3 Sails by the environmental NGO Legambiente, the city has been awarded the Blue Flag from the Foundation for Environmental Education every year from 2007-2009 for the cleanliness of its beaches and seawater. Eraclea Mare is known for its pinewood and the Lagoon of the Dead, the Lagoon, an unusual natural formation, was caused by the overflowing of the Piave river in 1935, whose bed was modified in its last stretch after a large flood. The Lagoon stretches between the Eracleas Lido and the mouth of the Piave river and it is a sea-lagoon, still uncontaminated, the Mort is characterized by shallow and calm waters with a sandy and muddy seabed, rich in phytoplankton. The citys economy is based on agriculture and tourism, because of its 6 km-long beach. The town is served by Trenitalia services to Venice and Trieste from San Donà di Piave, by road, Eraclea is accessible from Venice via the A4 through San Donà di Piave to the north. It was suppressed and is now a titular see, mario De Santis Emilio Lorenzo Stehle Józef Kowalczyk Enrico dal Covolo, S. D. B. Eracleas Tourism Portal You can find information about accommodation, Hotels, excursions. Eracleamares Portal Non-profit portal with information and utilities about Eraclea Mare. Eracleamare in Flickr Eracleamares Blog Blog with some Touristic information and utilities, Eraclea on Wikimapia Webcam live service on Eracleas beach Free provided by Eracleamare. net

5.
Malamocco
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Malamocco was the first, and for a long time, the only settlement on the Lido of Venice barrier island. It was the location of the home of the Doge of Venice. Located just south of the center, it is part of the Lido-Pellestrina borough of the Comune of Venice. It is sometimes mis-identified as Metamaucum, though the town was located on a nearby island. Malamocco also refers to one of the three channels in the barrier island chain that separates the Venetian Lagoon with the Adriatic Sea. The Malamocco Channel, with a depth of 14 meters, is dedicated to ships making use of the Marghera commercial/industrial port facilitites of the Port of Venice. Malamocco has a church now devoted to Santa Maria Assunta. The church dates from the 12th century and is built in Veneto-Byzantine style and it underwent modifications in 1339 and 1557. The belltower has a peal of four bells in the chord of F major and it can be found in Piazza Maggiore in the picturesque district of Malamocco on Lido. In Malamocco there is also the ponte Borgo, the Palazzo Pretorio, the Pisani governed Malamocco around the middle of 1537. The interior of the church is based on one nave and with dates in part to the 12th century. The 15th-century Palazzo del Podestà is in Gothic style, during the period of the Republic, Malamocco was one of nine districts of the Dogado. It was ruled by a podestà elected for a sixteen-month term

6.
Venice
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Venice is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto region. It is situated across a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and these are located in the shallow Venetian Lagoon, an enclosed bay that lies between the mouths of the Po and the Piave Rivers. Parts of Venice are renowned for the beauty of their settings, their architecture, the lagoon and a part of the city are listed as a World Heritage Site. In 2014,264,579 people resided in Comune di Venezia, together with Padua and Treviso, the city is included in the Padua-Treviso-Venice Metropolitan Area, with a total population of 2.6 million. PATREVE is a metropolitan area without any degree of autonomy. The name is derived from the ancient Veneti people who inhabited the region by the 10th century BC, the city was historically the capital of the Republic of Venice. Venice has been known as the La Dominante, Serenissima, Queen of the Adriatic, City of Water, City of Masks, City of Bridges, The Floating City, and City of Canals. The City State of Venice is considered to have been the first real international financial center which gradually emerged from the 9th century to its peak in the 14th century and this made Venice a wealthy city throughout most of its history. It is also known for its several important artistic movements, especially the Renaissance period, Venice has played an important role in the history of symphonic and operatic music, and it is the birthplace of Antonio Vivaldi. Venice has been ranked the most beautiful city in the world as of 2016, the name Venetia, however, derives from the Roman name for the people known as the Veneti, and called by the Greeks Eneti. The meaning of the word is uncertain, although there are other Indo-European tribes with similar-sounding names, such as the Celtic Veneti, Baltic Veneti, and the Slavic Wends. Linguists suggest that the name is based on an Indo-European root *wen, so that *wenetoi would mean beloved, lovable, a connection with the Latin word venetus, meaning the color sea-blue, is also possible. The alternative obsolete form is Vinegia, some late Roman sources reveal the existence of fishermen on the islands in the original marshy lagoons. They were referred to as incolae lacunae, the traditional founding is identified with the dedication of the first church, that of San Giacomo on the islet of Rialto — said to have taken place at the stroke of noon on 25 March 421. Beginning as early as AD166 to 168, the Quadi and Marcomanni destroyed the center in the area. The Roman defences were again overthrown in the early 5th century by the Visigoths and, some 50 years later, New ports were built, including those at Malamocco and Torcello in the Venetian lagoon. The tribuni maiores, the earliest central standing governing committee of the islands in the Lagoon, the traditional first doge of Venice, Paolo Lucio Anafesto, was actually Exarch Paul, and his successor, Marcello Tegalliano, was Pauls magister militum. In 726 the soldiers and citizens of the Exarchate rose in a rebellion over the controversy at the urging of Pope Gregory II

7.
Parliamentary system
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In a parliamentary system, the head of state is usually a different person from the head of government. Since ancient times, when societies were tribal, there were councils or a headman whose decisions were assessed by village elders, eventually these councils have slowly evolved into the modern Parliamentary system. The first parliaments date back to Europe in the Middle Ages, for example in 1188 Alfonso IX, the modern concept of parliamentary government emerged in the Kingdom of Great Britain and its contemporary, the Parliamentary System in Sweden. In England, Simon de Montfort is remembered as one of the fathers of representative government for holding two famous parliaments, the first, in 1258, stripped the King of unlimited authority and the second, in 1265, included ordinary citizens from the towns. Later, in the 17th century, the Parliament of England pioneered some of the ideas and systems of liberal democracy culminating in the Glorious Revolution, in the Kingdom of Great Britain, the monarch, in theory, chaired cabinet and chose ministers. In practice, King George Is inability to speak English led the responsibility for chairing cabinet to go to the minister, literally the prime or first minister. By the nineteenth century, the Great Reform Act of 1832 led to parliamentary dominance, with its choice invariably deciding who was prime minister, hence the use of phrases like Her Majestys government or His Excellencys government. Nineteenth century urbanisation, industrial revolution and, modernism had already fueled the political struggle for democracy. In the radicalised times at the end of World War I, a parliamentary system may be either bicameral, with two chambers of parliament or unicameral, with just one parliamentary chamber. Scholars of democracy such as Arend Lijphart distinguish two types of parliamentary democracies, the Westminster and Consensus systems, the Westminster system is usually found in the Commonwealth of Nations and countries which were influenced by the British political tradition. These parliaments tend to have a more style of debate. The Australian House of Representatives is elected using instant-runoff voting, while the Senate is elected using proportional representation through single transferable vote, regardless of which system is used, the voting systems tend to allow the voter to vote for a named candidate rather than a closed list. The Western European parliamentary model tends to have a more consensual debating system, Consensus systems have more of a tendency to use proportional representation with open party lists than the Westminster Model legislatures. The committees of these Parliaments tend to be more important than the plenary chamber, some West European countries parliaments implement the principle of dualism as a form of separation of powers. In countries using this system, Members of Parliament have to resign their place in Parliament upon being appointed minister, ministers in those countries usually actively participate in parliamentary debates, but are not entitled to vote. Some countries such as India also require the prime minister to be a member of the legislature, the head of state appoints a prime minister who will likely have majority support in parliament. The head of state appoints a minister who must gain a vote of confidence within a set time. The head of state appoints the leader of the party holding a plurality of seats in parliament as prime minister

8.
Maritime republics
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The maritime republics of the Mediterranean Basin were thalassocratic city-states which flourished in Italy and Dalmatia during the Middle Ages. The best known among the republics are Venice, Genoa, Pisa, Ragusa. Less known are Gaeta, Ancona, Noli and they were generally republics in that they were formally independent, though most of them originated from territories once formally belonging to the Byzantine Empire. During the time of their independence, all cities had similar systems of government. The Fourth Crusade, originally intended to liberate Jerusalem, actually entailed the Venetian conquest of Zara, Venice stands out from the rest in that it maintained enormous tracts of land in Greece, Cyprus, Istria and Dalmatia until as late as the mid-17th century. The economic growth of Europe around the year 1000, together with the hazards of the trading routes. The growing independence acquired by some coastal cities gave them a role in this development. These cities, exposed to raids, organized their own defence. The independent cities formed autonomous republican governments, an expression of the merchant class that constituted the backbone of their power. The history of the maritime republics intertwines both with the launch of European expansion to the East and with the origins of capitalism as a mercantile. Using gold coins, the merchants of the Italian maritime republics began to develop new foreign exchange transactions, technological advances in navigation provided essential support for the growth of mercantile wealth. Nautical charts of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries all belong to the schools of Genoa, Venice, the Crusades offered opportunities for expansion. They increasingly relied on Italian sea transport, for which the republics extracted concessions of colonies as well as a cash price, pera in Constantinople, first Genoese and later Venetian, was the largest and best known Italian trading base. The history of the maritime republics is quite varied, reflecting their different lifespans. Other republics kept their independence until the Renaissance, Pisa came under the dominion of the Republic of Florence in 1406, and Ancona came under control of the Papal States in 1532. Amalfi and Gaeta, though, lost their independence soon, the first in 1131. Amalfi, perhaps the first of the republics to play a major role, had developed extensive trade with Byzantium. Amalfitan merchants wrested the Mediterranean trade monopoly from the Arabs and founded mercantile bases in Southern Italy, amalfitans were the first to create a colony in Constantinople

9.
Elective monarchy
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An elective monarchy is a monarchy ruled by an elected monarch, in contrast to a hereditary monarchy in which the office is automatically passed down as a family inheritance. The manner of election, the nature of candidate qualifications, historically it is not uncommon for elective monarchies to transform into hereditary ones over time, or for hereditary ones to acquire at least occasional elective aspects. Many, if not most, kingdoms were officially elective historically, the kings of Macedon and of Epirus were elected by the army, which was similar in composition to the ecclesia of democracies, the council of all free citizens. Military service often was linked with citizenship among the members of the royal house. In the ancient Kingdom of Rome, the kings were elected by the Assemblies, therefore, the office of Roman and Byzantine emperor remained vaguely elective and heredity never was, and could never be, formally established in law. The Holy Roman Empire is perhaps the best-known example of an elective monarchy, however, from 1453 to 1740, a Habsburg was always elected emperor, the throne becoming unofficially hereditary. During that period, the emperor was elected from within the House of Habsburg by a council of nobles called prince-electors. The secular electoral seats were hereditary, however, spiritual electors were usually elected by the cathedral chapters as religious leaders, but simultaneously ruled as monarch of a territory of imperial immediacy. Thus the prince-bishoprics were elective monarchies too, the same holds true for prince-abbeys, whose prince-abbesses or prince-abbots were elected by a college of clerics and imperially appointed as princely rulers in a pertaining territory. In the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem, the kingship was partially elected, during the height of the kingdom in the mid-12th century there was a royal family and a relatively clear line of succession. Nevertheless, the king was elected, or at least recognized, here the king was considered a primus inter pares, and in his absence his duties were performed by his seneschal. Originally, the Kings of Sweden were elected by all men at the Mora Thing. Elective monarchy continued until 1544, when the Riksdag of the Estates designated the heirs of King Gustav Vasa as the heirs to the throne, the Danish monarchy was also officially elective, although the eldest son of the reigning monarch was usually elected. This continued until 1660, when a hereditary and absolute monarchy was instituted by Frederick III, though the monarchy of Norway was originally hereditary, it too became elective in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. Candidates had to be of royal blood, but the kingship was elected by a council of noblemen, in 1905 Prince Carl was elected King of Norway, after the male population in an election decided Norway should still be a monarchy. Bernadotte eventually ascended the throne as Charles XIV John of Sweden, in Poland, after the death of the last Piast in 1370, Polish kings were initially elected by a small council, gradually, this privilege was granted to all members of the szlachta. During the election period, the function of the king was performed by an interrex and this unique Polish election was termed the free election. Since medieval times, the King of Bohemia was elected by the Estates of Lands of the Bohemian Crown, since 1526, when the Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand I assumed the Bohemian Crown, it was always held by the Habsburgs, who expected this situation to go on indefinitely

10.
Paolo Lucio Anafesto
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Paolo Lucio Anafesto was, according to tradition, the first Doge of Venice, serving from 697 to 717. A noble of Eraclea, then the city of the region. However, Anafestos existence is uncorroborated by any source before the 11th century, according to John Julius Norwich, Paolo Lucio Anafesto was actually Exarch Paul. Moreover, Pauls magister militum had the same first name as Paoluccios reputed successor, Marcellus Tegallianus, Norwich, John Julius, A History of Venice. Alfred A. Knopf, New York,1982, anonymous, Archivo Storico Italiano, Tomo VIII, Cronaca Altinate

11.
Ludovico Manin
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Ludovico Giovanni Manin was a Venetian politician, a Patrician of Venice and the last Doge of Venice. He governed Venice from 9 March 1789 until 1797, when he was forced to abdicate by Napoleon Bonaparte, Lodovico Manin was the eldest of five sons of Lodovico III Alvise and Lucrezia Maria Basadonna, the great-granddaughter of cardinal Pietro Basadonna. He attended the University of Bologna and was a boarder at the College of St. Xavier noble, there he printed some propositions of natural law, when he began public life, was quickly noticed for his generosity, his honesty, his kindness and above all his wealth. He married Elisabetta Grimani on 14 September 1748, at twenty-six he was elected captain of Vicenza, then to Verona where he had to cope with the flood of 1757, finally Brescia. In 1764 he was appointed procurator of San Marco de ultra, fond of religious meditations in 1769 he asked and obtained permission to not hold an office because of ill health and bad hearing. In 1787 he was chosen to honor Pope Pius VI as he crossed the possessions of Venice, Lodovico married Elisabetta Grimani, who bore him a dowry of 45,000 ducats. Elisabetta had been educated in a monastery in Treviso and was in health since childhood. Lodovico was elected Doge of Venice on 9 March 1789, approximately four months before the start of the French Revolution, on the first ballot, by the year 1792, he had allowed the once great Venetian merchant fleet to decline to a mere 309 merchantmen. When Napoleon invaded Italy, Venice, along with the Republic of Genoa, did not initially join the coalition of Italian states formed in 1795, on 15 April 1797, French general Jean-Andoche Junot gave the Doge an ultimatum which was not accepted. A secret addition to the Treaty of Leoben, signed on 17 April 1797, gave Venice—as well as Istria, on 25 April 1797, the French fleet arrived at the Lido. Venetian cannons sank one of the ships, but did not succeed in repelling the invasion since the Venetian war fleet numbered only 4 galleys and 7 galliots, the Doge surrendered on 12 May 1797 and left the Doges Palace two days later. On 16 May French troops entered Piazza San Marco and the contract was officially signed. He wanted to end his days in a monastery but this proved impossible and he died in his house of dropsy and heart problems on 24 October 1802. His will ordered that his funeral should take place with the least possible pomp and he left 110,000 ducats to the Manin Foundation for the benefit of the citys lunatics, orphans, and girls from poor families needing a dowry. His remains were interred in the chapel of the Church of the Scalzi in Venice near the present railway station of Venice Saint Lucia in the tomb of Manin where his late wife already lay. The tomb slab survives and bears the simple inscription Manini Cineres and he also left his memoirs which were later collected and published by his grandson Louis Joseph Manin. The son of Louis Joseph, namely Louis Leonardo Manin had no legitimate children, memorie del dogado, preface and notes by Attilio Sarfatti, Venice,1886

12.
Great Council of Venice
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Participation in the Great Council was established on hereditary right, exclusive to the patrician families enrolled in the Golden Book of the Venetian nobility. The Great Council was also unique at the time in its usage of lottery to select nominators for proposal of candidates, the Great Council had the power to create laws and elected the Council of Ten. In 1143 the Consilium Sapientis was formally established as a permanent representation of the sovereign Concio of freemen, the Act formalized the set-up in communal form of the State, with the birth of the Commune Veneciarum. Thirty years later the Consilium was transformed into sovereign assembly known as the Great Council, the council initially consisted of 35 councilors, but gradually expanded to over 100. Some members were added to the Council of the Forty, which served effectively as a Supreme Court or highest of constitutional bodies, the Forty was established around 1179. However, under Doge Pietro Gradenigo the nobility insisted that to more stability and continuity of participation in the Government of the Republic. This was brought together on 28 February 1297, an event known as the Serrata and this provision of law opened the Great Council only to those who already had been part of the preceding four years, and every year, forty raffled among their descendants. The reform also removed time limits on how long a person could be a member of the Council, the entry of new members was further limited by additional laws in 1307 and 1316. On 19 July 1315, a book of Italian nobilities was established, only those listed in the book and above 18 years of age were eligible for the position in the Major Council. In 1423 the Great Council formally abolished the concio, in 1506 and 1526, records were established in order to determine births and marriages to facilitate the detection of the right of access to the body of nobility. In 1527 the members of the Greater Council, chose to grant equal rights to members of the council for all men over twenty years of the most illustrious families of the city, at this point, the council reached its maximum size of 2746 members. The effect of the provisions of the Serrata had increased dramatically the number of members, in the sixteenth century, it was common for up to 2095 patricians with the right to sit in the Ducal Palace. There was a difficulty in managing such a body. This led to a delegation of more immediate functions of government bodies to smaller, leaner and selected bodies, in some rare cases, facing severe economic difficulties and dangers, access to the Great Council was open to new families. These may have gradually or suddenly had depleted their wealth, and this often took the two sides of the nobility to clash in council and opened the possibility to cases of vote-buying

13.
Senate
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A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature or parliament. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate, so-called as an assembly of the senior and therefore allegedly wiser, thus, the literal meaning of the word senate is, Assembly of Elders. Many countries have a named an senate, composed of senators who may be elected, appointed, have inherited the title, or gained membership by other methods. Modern senates typically serve to provide a chamber of second thought to consider legislation passed by a lower house, whose members are usually elected. The modern word Senate is derived from the word senātus, which comes from senex, the members or legislators of a senate are called senators. The Latin word senator was adopted into English with no change in spelling and its meaning is derived from a very ancient form of social organization, in which advisory or decision-making powers are reserved for the eldest men. This form adaptation was used to show the power of those in body and for the process to be thorough. The original senate was the Roman Senate, which lasted until 580, in the Eastern Roman Empire, the Byzantine Senate continued until the Fourth Crusade, circa 1202–1204. This may include minimum age required for voters and candidates, proportional or majoritarian or plurality system, typically, the senate is referred to as the upper house and has a smaller membership than the lower house. In some federal states senates also exist at the subnational level, in the United States all states with the exception of Nebraska have a state senate. There is also the US Senate at the federal level, córdoba and Tucumán changed to unicameral systems in 2001 and 2003 respectively. In Australia and Canada, only the house of the federal parliament is known as the Senate. All Australian states other than Queensland have a house known as a Legislative council. Several Canadian provinces also once had a Legislative Council, but these have all been abolished, in Germany, the last Senate of a State parliament, the Senate of Bavaria, was abolished in 1999. Senate membership can be determined either through elections or appointments, for example, elections are held every three years for half the membership of the Australian Senate, the term of a senator being six years. The terms Senate and Senator, however, do not necessarily refer to a chamber of a legislature, The Senate of Finland was, until 1919, the executive branch. The Senate of Latvia fulfilled a similar function during the interbellum. In a number of cities which were members of the Hanse, such as Greifswald, Lübeck, Rostock, Stralsund, or Wismar

14.
Council of Ten
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The Council of Ten, or simply the Ten, was, from 1310 to 1797, one of the major governing bodies of the Republic of Venice whose actions were often secretive. Although some sources may indicate that the Council of Ten was generally accepted in Venice, although originally established for a period of two months, its authority was continuously renewed, until it became a permanent body in 1334. The Council was formally composed of ten members, elected for one-year terms by the Great Council, in practice, its sessions were expanded to 17 members by including the Doge and others of the Signoria. For major questions, the number could be increased by summoning some number of additional Senators, who composed the zonta, however. Members of the Council could not be elected for two terms, nor could two members from the same family be elected simultaneously. Leadership of the Council was vested in three Capi, who were elected from among the ten members for one-month terms, during the month in which they served, they were confined to the Doges Palace in order to prevent corruption or bribery. The Council was formally tasked with maintaining the security of the Republic, however, its small size and ability to rapidly make decisions led to more mundane business being referred to it, and by 1457 it was enjoying almost unlimited authority over all governmental affairs. In particular, it oversaw Venices diplomatic and intelligence services, managed its military affairs, the Council also made numerous, though mainly unsuccessful, attempts to combat vice, particularly gambling, in the Republic. In 1539, the Council established the State Inquisitors, a tribunal of three chosen from among its members to deal with threats to state security. The Inquisitors were given authority to that of the entire Council of Ten. To further these activities, the Inquisitors created a network of spies and informants. The increasing power of the Council of Ten caused some concern among the governing bodies of the Republic. In 1627, Renier Zen, one of the Capi of the Ten, began a campaign against what he saw as despotism and corruptions on the part of the Council. The immediate pretext for his complaints was the reluctance of the Council to deal with the relatives of Doge Giovanni Cornaro who had elected to certain posts in contravention of Republic law. On 30 December, Renier Zen was attacked by masked assassins, who were found to include Giorgio Cornaro. At the meeting on 23 July 1628, Zen called for laws to be upheld, claiming that the Doge, later that day, the Ten met and voted to arrest and exile Renier Zen. By this point the Great Council had begun to move, appointing a committee of correctors to examine proposals for reform. By September, however, it had become overwhelmed with procedural matters, the Ten lost the ability to review decisions of the Great Council, and the zonta was formally discontinued, but otherwise their powers were left unchecked

15.
Alexios I Komnenos
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Alexios I Komnenos, was Byzantine emperor from 1081 to 1118. Although he was not the founder of the Komnenian dynasty, it was during his reign that the Komnenos family came to full power, the basis for this recovery were various reforms initiated by Alexios. His appeals to Western Europe for help against the Turks were also the catalyst that contributed to the convoking of the Crusades. Alexios was the son of the Domestic of the Schools John Komnenos and Anna Dalassena, Alexios father declined the throne on the abdication of Isaac, who was thus succeeded by four emperors of other families between 1059 and 1081. Under one of these emperors, Romanos IV Diogenes, Alexios served with distinction against the Seljuq Turks. Under Michael VII Doukas Parapinakes and Nikephoros III Botaneiates, he was employed, along with his elder brother Isaac, against rebels in Asia Minor, Thrace. In 1074, western mercenaries led by Roussel de Bailleul rebelled in Asia Minor, in 1078, he was appointed commander of the field army in the West by Nikephoros III. Alexios was ordered to march against his brother-in-law Nikephoros Melissenos in Asia Minor and this did not, however, lead to a demotion, as Alexios was needed to counter the expected invasion of the Normans of Southern Italy, led by Robert Guiscard. While Byzantine troops were assembling for the expedition, the Doukas faction at court approached Alexios, the mother of Alexios, Anna Dalassena, was to play a prominent role in this coup détat of 1081, along with the current empress, Maria of Alania. First married to Michael VII Doukas and secondly to Nikephoros III Botaneiates, she was preoccupied with the future of her son by Michael VII, furthermore, to aid the conspiracy Maria had adopted Alexios as her son, though she was only five years older than he. Maria was persuaded to do so on the advice of her own Alans and her eunuchs, given Annas tight hold on her family, Alexios must have been adopted with her implicit approval. As a result, Alexios and Constantine, Marias son, were now adoptive brothers, by secretly giving inside information to the Komnenoi, Maria was an invaluable ally. As stated in the Alexiad, Isaac and Alexios left Constantinople in mid-February 1081 to raise an army against Botaneiates, however, when the time came, Anna quickly and surreptitiously mobilized the remainder of the family and took refuge in the Hagia Sophia. From there she negotiated with the emperor for the safety of family members left in the capital, the tutor discovered they were missing and eventually found them on the palace grounds, but Anna was able to convince him that they would return to the palace shortly. However, before they were to gain entry into the sanctuary, Straboromanos and she refused to go with them and demanded that they allow her to pray to the Mother of God for protection. This request was granted and Anna then manifested her true theatrical and manipulative capabilities, Nikephoros III Botaneiates was forced into a public vow that he would grant protection to the family. Straboromanos tried to give Anna his cross, but for her it was not sufficiently enough for all bystanders to witness the oath. She also demanded that the cross be personally sent by Botaneiates as a vow of his good faith and he obliged, sending a complete assurance for the family with his own cross

16.
Fourth Crusade
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The Fourth Crusade was a Western European armed expedition called by Pope Innocent III, originally intended to conquer Muslim-controlled Jerusalem by means of an invasion through Egypt. Instead, a sequence of events culminated in the Crusaders sacking the city of Constantinople, the intention of the crusaders was then to continue to the Holy Land with promised Byzantine financial and military assistance. On 23 June 1203 the main fleet reached Constantinople. In August 1203, following clashes outside Constantinople, Alexios Angelos was crowned co-Emperor with crusader support, however, in January 1204, he was deposed by a popular uprising in Constantinople. In April 1204, they captured and brutally sacked the city, Byzantine resistance based in unconquered sections of the empire such as Nicaea, Trebizond, and Epirus ultimately recovered Constantinople in 1261. Ayyubid Sultan Saladin had conquered most of the Frankish, Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem, including the ancient city itself, the Kingdom had been established 88 years before, after the capture and sack of Jerusalem in the First Crusade. The city was sacred to Christians, Muslims and Jews, Saladin led a Muslim dynasty, and his incorporation of Jerusalem into his domains shocked and dismayed the Catholic countries of Western Europe. Legend has it that Pope Urban III literally died of the shock, the crusader states had been reduced to three cities along the sea coast, Tyre, Tripoli, and Antioch. The Third Crusade reclaimed an extensive amount of territory for the Kingdom of Jerusalem, including the key towns of Acre and Jaffa, but had failed to retake Jerusalem. The crusade had also marked by a significant escalation in long standing tensions between the feudal states of western Europe and the Byzantine Empire, centred in Constantinople. The experiences of the first two crusades had thrown into relief the vast cultural differences between the two Christian civilisations. For their part, the educated and wealthy Byzantines maintained a sense of cultural, organizational. Constantinople had been in existence for 874 years at the time of the Fourth Crusade and was the largest and most sophisticated city in Christendom. Almost alone amongst major medieval urban centres, it had retained the civic structures, public baths, forums, monuments, at its height, the city held an estimated population of about half a million people behind thirteen miles of triple walls. As a result, it was both a rival and a target for the aggressive new states of the west, notably the Republic of Venice. Crusaders also seized the breakaway Byzantine province of Cyprus, rather than return it to the Empire, barbarossa died on crusade, and his army quickly disintegrated, leaving the English and French, who had come by sea, to fight Saladin. There they captured Sidon and Beirut, but at the news of Henrys death in Messina along the way, many of the nobles, deserted by much of their leadership, the rank and file crusaders panicked before an Egyptian army and fled to their ships in Tyre. Also in 1195, the Byzantine Emperor Isaac II Angelos was deposed in favour of his brother by a palace coup, ascending as Alexios III Angelos, the new emperor had his brother blinded and exiled

17.
Battle of Lepanto
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The battle was in essence an infantry battle on floating platforms. It was the largest naval battle in Western history since classical antiquity, over the following decades, the increasing importance of the galleon and the line of battle tactic would displace the galley as the major warship of its era, marking the beginning of the Age of Sail. It has long been compared to the Battle of Salamis both for tactical parallels and for its importance in the defense of Europe against imperial expansion. On 1 August, the Venetians had surrendered after being reassured that they could leave Cyprus freely, however, the Ottoman commander, Lala Kara Mustafa Pasha, who had lost some 50,000 men in the siege, broke his word, imprisoning the Venetians. The members of the Holy League were the Republic of Venice, the Spanish Empire, the Papal States, the Republic of Genoa, the Duchies of Savoy, Urbino and Tuscany, the Knights Hospitaller and others. The banner for the fleet, blessed by the Pope, reached the Kingdom of Naples on 14 August 1571. There, in the Basilica of Santa Chiara, it was consigned to John of Austria. All members of the alliance viewed the Ottoman navy as a significant threat, the combined Christian fleet was placed under the command of John of Austria with Marcantonio Colonna as his principal deputy. The various Christian contingents met the force, that of Venice, in July and August 1571 at Messina. John of Austria arrived on 23 August, see Battle of Lepanto order of battle for a detailed list of ships and commanders involved in the battle. This fleet of the Christian alliance was manned by 40,000 sailors, Ali Pasha, the Ottoman admiral, supported by the corsairs Mehmed Siroco of Alexandria and Uluç Ali, commanded an Ottoman force of 222 war galleys,56 galliots, and some smaller vessels. The Turks had skilled and experienced crews of sailors but were deficient in their elite corps of Janissaries. The number of oarsmen was about 37,000, virtually all of them slaves, the Ottoman galleys were manned by 13,000 experienced sailors—generally drawn from the maritime nations of the Ottoman Empire, namely Berbers, Greeks, Syrians, and Egyptians—and 34,000 soldiers. An advantage for the Christians was their numerical superiority in guns and cannon aboard their ships and it is estimated that the Christians had 1,815 guns, while the Turks had only 750 with insufficient ammunition. The Christians embarked with their much improved arquebusier and musketeer forces, serious conflict had broken out between the Venetian and Spanish soldiers, and Venier enraged Don Juan by hanging a Spanish soldier for impudence. Despite bad weather, the Christian ships sailed south and, on 6 October, they reached the port of Sami, Cephalonia, early on 7 October, they sailed toward the Gulf of Patras, where they encountered the Ottoman fleet. While neither fleet had immediate strategic resources or objectives in the gulf, on the morning of 7 October, after the decision to offer battle was made, the Christian fleet formed up in four divisions in a north-south line. At the northern end, closest to the coast, was the Left Division of 53 galleys, mainly Venetian, led by Agostino Barbarigo, with Marco Querini and Antonio da Canale in support

18.
Treaty of Leoben
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The Treaty of Leoben was a general armistice and preliminary peace agreement between the Holy Roman Empire and the First French Republic that ended the War of the First Coalition. Ratifications were exchanged in Montebello on 24 May, and the treaty came into effect immediately, receiving no response, the French advanced as far as Judenburg by the evening of 7 April. That night, Charles proffered a truce for five days, which was accepted, on 13 April, Merveldt went to the French headquarters at Leoben and requested the armistice be extended so that a preliminary peace could be signed. That was granted and three proposals were drawn up, the final one was accepted by both sides, and, on 18 April, at Leoben, the preliminary peace was signed. The treaty contained nine public articles and eleven secret ones, except for these personal losses to the ruling Habsburgs, the treaty preserved the integrity of the Holy Roman Empire unlike in the amplified Treaty of Campo Formio of 17 October 1797. No final peace between the Holy Roman Empire and France was reached before the outbreak of the War of the Second Coalition in 1799, text of treaty in original French

19.
Treaty of Campo Formio
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The Treaty of Campo Formio was signed on 18 October 1797 by Napoleon Bonaparte and Count Philipp von Cobenzl as representatives of the French Republic and the Austrian monarchy, respectively. The treaty followed the armistice of Leoben, which had forced on the Habsburgs by Napoleons victorious campaign in Italy. It definitively ended the War of the First Coalition and left Great Britain fighting alone against revolutionary France, the treaty, in its public articles, only concerned France and Austria. It called for a Congress of Rastatt to be held to negotiate a peace for the Holy Roman Empire. In its secret articles, Austria, as the state of the Emperor. The congress failed to achieve a peace by early 1799 and on 12 March France declared war on Austria again and this new war, the War of the Second Coalition, ended with the Peace of Lunéville, a peace for the whole Empire, in 1801. Beyond the usual clauses of firm and inviolable peace, the treaty transferred a number of Austrian territories into French hands, lands ceded included the Austrian Netherlands and certain islands in the Mediterranean, including Corfu and other Venetian islands in the Adriatic Sea. Venice and its territories were divided between the two states, Venice, Istria and Dalmatia were turned over to the Austrian emperor, Austria recognized the Cisalpine Republic and the newly created Ligurian Republic, formed of Genovese territories, as independent powers. In addition, the states of the Regnum Italicum formally ceased to owe fealty to the Holy Roman Emperor, free French navigation was guaranteed on the Rhine, the Meuse and the Moselle. The French Republic had been expanded into areas that had never before been under French control, the treaty was composed and signed after five months of negotiations. It was basically what had been agreed earlier at the Peace of Leoben in April 1797, during the negotiating period the French had to crush a royalist coup in September. That was used as a cause for the arrest and deportation of royalist, one consequence was the Peasants War, which erupted in the Southern Netherlands in 1798 following the French introduction of conscription. As a result of the treaty, Gilbert du Motier, marquis de Lafayette, by passing Venetian possessions in Greece, such as the Ionian Islands, to French rule, the treaty had an effect on later Greek history neither intended nor expected at the time. Campo Formio, now called Campoformido, is a village west of Udine in north-eastern Italy, the French commander resided at Villa Manin – the country mansion of Ludovico Manin, the last Doge of Venice – near Codroipo. The treaty was signed in an old house in the square of the village, property of Bertrando Del Torre. The following 18 January 1798, Austrian troops entered Venice, and on the 21st, they held a reception at the Doges Palace. Civiltà di Venezia, Volume 3, l’età moderna, the French Revolution, Volume II From 1793–1799. The Great Nation, France from Louis XV to Napoleon 1715–99, the Transformation of European Politics 1763–1848

20.
Ducat
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The ducat /ˈdʌkət/ was a gold or silver coin used as a trade coin in Europe from the later medieval centuries until as late as the 20th century. Many types of ducats had various metallic content and purchasing power throughout the period, the gold ducat of Venice gained wide international acceptance, like the medieval Byzantine hyperpyron and the Florentine florin, or the modern British pound sterling and the United States dollar. The word ducat is from Medieval Latin ducatus = relating to a duke, Doge Enrico Dandolo of Venice, whose title means duke, introduced a silver ducat whose types are related to the ducats of Roger II. Later gold ducats of Venice, however, became so important that the name ducat was associated exclusively with them, the Venetian business model of the 13th century was importing goods from the East and selling them at a profit north of the Alps. They paid for goods with Byzantine gold coins but when the Byzantine emperor Michael VIII Palaiologos backed a rebellion called the Sicilian Vespers in 1282. This was just one more in a series of debasements of the hyperpyron, both Florence and Genoa had introduced gold coins in 1252 and the florin of Florence had become the standard European gold coin. Venice modeled the size and weight of their ducat on the florin, the Venetian ducat contained 3.545 grams of 99. 47% fine gold, the highest purity medieval metallurgy could produce. Gold ducat types derive from silver ducat types, which were ultimately Byzantine, the obverse shows the Doge of Venice kneeling before St. Mark, the patron saint of Venice. Saint Mark holds the gospel, which is his usual attribute, the legend on the left identifies the saint as S M VENET, i. e. Saint Mark of Venice, and the legend on the right identifies the doge, with his title DVX in the field. On the reverse, Christ stands among a field of stars in an oval frame, the reverse legend is the same as on Roger II’s ducats. Succeeding doges of Venice continued striking ducats, changing only their name on the obverse, during the 15th century, the value of the ducat in terms of silver money was stable at 124 Venetian soldi, i. e. schillings. The term ducat became identified with this amount of money as well as the gold coin. Conflict between England and Spain in 1567, however, increased the price of gold and upset this equivalence, at this point, the coin was called the ducato de zecca, i. e. ducat of the mint, which was shortened to zecchino and corrupted to sequin. Leonardo Loredan extended the coinage with a half ducat and subsequent doges added a quarter, all of these coins continued to use the designs and weight standards of the original 1284 ducat. Even after dates became a feature of western coinage, Venice struck ducats without them until Napoleon ended the Venetian Republic in 1797. Instead, the Roman coin showed a senator kneeling before St. Peter on the obverse, the Popes subsequently changed these designs, but continued to strike ducats of the same weight and size into the 16th century. Most imitations of the Venetian ducat were made in the Levant, the Knights of Saint John struck ducats with grand master Dieudonné de Gozon, 1346-1353, kneeling before Saint John on the obverse and an angel seated on the Sepulcher of Christ on the reverse. Subsequent Grand masters, however, found it expedient to copy the Venetian types more exactly, first at Rhodes and they struck ducats at Chios that could be distinguished from the Venetian originals only by their workmanship

21.
Byzantine Empire
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It survived the fragmentation and fall of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD and continued to exist for an additional thousand years until it fell to the Ottoman Turks in 1453. During most of its existence, the empire was the most powerful economic, cultural, several signal events from the 4th to 6th centuries mark the period of transition during which the Roman Empires Greek East and Latin West divided. Constantine I reorganised the empire, made Constantinople the new capital, under Theodosius I, Christianity became the Empires official state religion and other religious practices were proscribed. Finally, under the reign of Heraclius, the Empires military, the borders of the Empire evolved significantly over its existence, as it went through several cycles of decline and recovery. During the reign of Maurice, the Empires eastern frontier was expanded, in a matter of years the Empire lost its richest provinces, Egypt and Syria, to the Arabs. This battle opened the way for the Turks to settle in Anatolia, the Empire recovered again during the Komnenian restoration, such that by the 12th century Constantinople was the largest and wealthiest European city. Despite the eventual recovery of Constantinople in 1261, the Byzantine Empire remained only one of several small states in the area for the final two centuries of its existence. Its remaining territories were annexed by the Ottomans over the 15th century. The Fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Empire in 1453 finally ended the Byzantine Empire, the term comes from Byzantium, the name of the city of Constantinople before it became Constantines capital. This older name of the city would rarely be used from this point onward except in historical or poetic contexts. The publication in 1648 of the Byzantine du Louvre, and in 1680 of Du Canges Historia Byzantina further popularised the use of Byzantine among French authors, however, it was not until the mid-19th century that the term came into general use in the Western world. The Byzantine Empire was known to its inhabitants as the Roman Empire, the Empire of the Romans, Romania, the Roman Republic, Graikia, and also as Rhōmais. The inhabitants called themselves Romaioi and Graikoi, and even as late as the 19th century Greeks typically referred to modern Greek as Romaika and Graikika. The authority of the Byzantine emperor as the legitimate Roman emperor was challenged by the coronation of Charlemagne as Imperator Augustus by Pope Leo III in the year 800. No such distinction existed in the Islamic and Slavic worlds, where the Empire was more seen as the continuation of the Roman Empire. In the Islamic world, the Roman Empire was known primarily as Rûm, the Roman army succeeded in conquering many territories covering the entire Mediterranean region and coastal regions in southwestern Europe and north Africa. These territories were home to different cultural groups, both urban populations and rural populations. The West also suffered heavily from the instability of the 3rd century AD

22.
Cisalpine Republic
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The Cisalpine Republic was a Sister Republic of France in Northern Italy that lasted from 1797 to 1802. After the Battle of Lodi in May 1796, Napoleon Bonaparte proceeded to two states, one to the south of the Po River, the Cispadane Republic, and one to the north. The rest of Cispadania was merged into the Cisalpine Republic on 27 July, on 1 Brumaire, Bonaparte announced the union of Valtelline with the republic, after its secession from the Swiss Three Grey Leagues. Austria acknowledged the new entity in the Treaty of Campoformio of 17 October, on 25 Brumaire, the full international recognition and legality of the new state was ratified by the law governing the final annexation of the conquered territories. The parliament, composed of two chambers, was appointed directly by Napoleon on 1 Frimaire and he justified this undemocratic action as a necessity of war. New departments joined the original ones and Valtelline in the following months, Benaco on 11 Ventose, Mella on 13 Floreal, Mincio on 7 Prairial. The structural phase of the republic was terminated on 14 Fructidor, the Cisalpine Republic was for many years under the dominion of the House of Austria. The French Republic succeeded it by right of conquest and it now renounces this right, and the Cisalpine Republic is free and independent. Recognized by France and by the Emperor, it soon be equally acknowledged by the rest of Europe. From a military regime the Cisalpine people pass to a constitutional one, for a great number of years there existed no republic in Italy. The sacred fire of liberty was extinguished, and the finest part of Europe was under the yoke of strangers. It belongs to the Cisalpine Republic to show to the world by its wisdom, its energy, and the organization of its armies, that modern Italy is not degenerated. The institutions of the new republic were similar to those of France. The territory was divided into departments which elected the judges of peace, the magistrates, the latter elected two councils, the Consiglio dei Seniori and the Gran Consiglio. The first was composed of 40 to 60 members and approved the laws. The second initially had from 80 to 120 members and proposed the laws, both councils discussed treaties, the choice of a Directory, and the determination of tributes. The legislative corps included men like Pietro Verri, Giuseppe Parini, the electors had to be landowners or wealthy. The Directory was composed of five directors and represented the power, leaders were local politicians like Gian Galeazzo Serbelloni

23.
Italy
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Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a unitary parliamentary republic in Europe. Located in the heart of the Mediterranean Sea, Italy shares open land borders with France, Switzerland, Austria, Slovenia, San Marino, Italy covers an area of 301,338 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate and Mediterranean climate. Due to its shape, it is referred to in Italy as lo Stivale. With 61 million inhabitants, it is the fourth most populous EU member state, the Italic tribe known as the Latins formed the Roman Kingdom, which eventually became a republic that conquered and assimilated other nearby civilisations. The legacy of the Roman Empire is widespread and can be observed in the distribution of civilian law, republican governments, Christianity. The Renaissance began in Italy and spread to the rest of Europe, bringing a renewed interest in humanism, science, exploration, Italian culture flourished at this time, producing famous scholars, artists and polymaths such as Leonardo da Vinci, Galileo, Michelangelo and Machiavelli. The weakened sovereigns soon fell victim to conquest by European powers such as France, Spain and Austria. Despite being one of the victors in World War I, Italy entered a period of economic crisis and social turmoil. The subsequent participation in World War II on the Axis side ended in defeat, economic destruction. Today, Italy has the third largest economy in the Eurozone and it has a very high level of human development and is ranked sixth in the world for life expectancy. The country plays a prominent role in regional and global economic, military, cultural and diplomatic affairs, as a reflection of its cultural wealth, Italy is home to 51 World Heritage Sites, the most in the world, and is the fifth most visited country. The assumptions on the etymology of the name Italia are very numerous, according to one of the more common explanations, the term Italia, from Latin, Italia, was borrowed through Greek from the Oscan Víteliú, meaning land of young cattle. The bull was a symbol of the southern Italic tribes and was often depicted goring the Roman wolf as a defiant symbol of free Italy during the Social War. Greek historian Dionysius of Halicarnassus states this account together with the legend that Italy was named after Italus, mentioned also by Aristotle and Thucydides. The name Italia originally applied only to a part of what is now Southern Italy – according to Antiochus of Syracuse, but by his time Oenotria and Italy had become synonymous, and the name also applied to most of Lucania as well. The Greeks gradually came to apply the name Italia to a larger region, excavations throughout Italy revealed a Neanderthal presence dating back to the Palaeolithic period, some 200,000 years ago, modern Humans arrived about 40,000 years ago. Other ancient Italian peoples of undetermined language families but of possible origins include the Rhaetian people and Cammuni. Also the Phoenicians established colonies on the coasts of Sardinia and Sicily, the Roman legacy has deeply influenced the Western civilisation, shaping most of the modern world

24.
Slovenia
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Slovenia, officially the Republic of Slovenia, is a nation state in southern Central Europe, located at the crossroads of main European cultural and trade routes. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the south and southeast, and it covers 20,273 square kilometers and has a population of 2.06 million. It is a republic and a member of the United Nations, European Union. The capital and largest city is Ljubljana, additionally, the Dinaric Alps and the Pannonian Plain meet on the territory of Slovenia. The country, marked by a significant biological diversity, is one of the most water-rich in Europe, with a river network, a rich aquifer system. Over half of the territory is covered by forest, the human settlement of Slovenia is dispersed and uneven. Slovenia has historically been the crossroads of South Slavic, Germanic, Romance, although the population is not homogeneous, the majority is Slovene. South Slavic language Slovene is the language throughout the country. Slovenia is a largely secularized country, but its culture and identity have been influenced by Catholicism as well as Lutheranism. The economy of Slovenia is small, open, and export-oriented and has strongly influenced by international conditions. It has been hurt by the Eurozone crisis, started in the late 2000s. The main economic field is services, followed by industry and construction, Historically, the current territory of Slovenia was part of many different state formations, including the Roman Empire and the Holy Roman Empire, followed by the Habsburg Monarchy. In October 1918, the Slovenes exercised self-determination for the first time by co-founding the State of Slovenes, Croats, in December 1918, they merged with the Kingdom of Serbia into the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. During World War II, Slovenia was occupied and annexed by Germany, Italy, and Hungary, with a tiny area transferred to the Independent State of Croatia, in June 1991, after the introduction of multi-party representative democracy, Slovenia split from Yugoslavia and became an independent country. Present-day Slovenia has been inhabited since prehistoric times, and there is evidence of habitation from around 250,000 years ago. A pierced cave bear bone, dating from 43100 ±700 BP, in the 1920s and 1930s, artifacts belonging to the Cro-Magnon such as pierced bones, bone points, and needle were found by archaeologist Srečko Brodar in Potok Cave. It shows that wooden wheels appeared almost simultaneously in Mesopotamia and Europe, in the transition period between the Bronze age to the Iron age, the Urnfield culture flourished. Archaeological remains dating from the Hallstatt period have been found, particularly in southeastern Slovenia, among them a number of situlas in Novo Mesto, in the Iron Age, present-day Slovenia was inhabited by Illyrian and Celtic tribes until the 1st century BC

25.
Croatia
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Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a sovereign state between Central Europe, Southeast Europe, and the Mediterranean. Its capital city is Zagreb, which one of the countrys primary subdivisions. Croatia covers 56,594 square kilometres and has diverse, mostly continental, Croatias Adriatic Sea coast contains more than a thousand islands. The countrys population is 4.28 million, most of whom are Croats, the Croats arrived in the area of present-day Croatia during the early part of the 7th century AD. They organised the state into two duchies by the 9th century, tomislav became the first king by 925, elevating Croatia to the status of a kingdom. The Kingdom of Croatia retained its sovereignty for nearly two centuries, reaching its peak during the rule of Kings Petar Krešimir IV and Dmitar Zvonimir, Croatia entered a personal union with Hungary in 1102. In 1527, faced with Ottoman conquest, the Croatian Parliament elected Ferdinand I of the House of Habsburg to the Croatian throne. In 1918, after World War I, Croatia was included in the unrecognized State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs which seceded from Austria-Hungary, a fascist Croatian puppet state backed by Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany existed during World War II. After the war, Croatia became a member and a federal constituent of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. On 25 June 1991 Croatia declared independence, which came wholly into effect on 8 October of the same year, the Croatian War of Independence was fought successfully during the four years following the declaration. A unitary state, Croatia is a republic governed under a parliamentary system, the International Monetary Fund classified Croatia as an emerging and developing economy, and the World Bank identified it as a high-income economy. Croatia is a member of the European Union, United Nations, the Council of Europe, NATO, the World Trade Organization, the service sector dominates Croatias economy, followed by the industrial sector and agriculture. Tourism is a significant source of revenue during the summer, with Croatia ranked the 18th most popular tourist destination in the world, the state controls a part of the economy, with substantial government expenditure. The European Union is Croatias most important trading partner, since 2000, the Croatian government constantly invests in infrastructure, especially transport routes and facilities along the Pan-European corridors. Internal sources produce a significant portion of energy in Croatia, the rest is imported, the origin of the name is uncertain, but is thought to be a Gothic or Indo-Aryan term assigned to a Slavic tribe. The oldest preserved record of the Croatian ethnonym *xъrvatъ is of variable stem, the first attestation of the Latin term is attributed to a charter of Duke Trpimir from the year 852. The original is lost, and just a 1568 copy is preserved—leading to doubts over the authenticity of the claim, the oldest preserved stone inscription is the 9th-century Branimir Inscription, where Duke Branimir is styled as Dux Cruatorvm. The inscription is not believed to be dated accurately, but is likely to be from during the period of 879–892, the area known as Croatia today was inhabited throughout the prehistoric period

26.
Montenegro
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Montenegro is a sovereign state in Southeastern Europe. Its capital and largest city is Podgorica, while Cetinje is designated as the Old Royal Capital. In the 9th century, three Slavic principalities were in the territory of Montenegro, Duklja, roughly corresponding to the half, Travunia, the west, and Rascia. In 1042, archon Stefan Vojislav led a revolt that resulted in the independence of Duklja, Duklja reached its zenith under Vojislavs son, Mihailo, and his grandson Bodin. By the 13th century, Zeta had replaced Duklja when referring to the realm. In the late 14th century, southern Montenegro came under the rule of the Balšić noble family, then the Crnojević noble family, large portions fell under the control of the Ottoman Empire from 1496 to 1878. Parts were controlled by Venice and the First French Empire and Austria-Hungary, from 1515 until 1851, the prince-bishops of Cetinje were the rulers. The House of Petrović-Njegoš ruled the country from 1697 to 1918, from 1918, it was a part of Kingdom of Yugoslavia, which was succeeded by SFR Yugoslavia in 1945, FR Yugoslavia in 1992, and subsequently by the state union of Serbia and Montenegro in 2003. On the basis of a referendum held on 21 May 2006. Montenegro is also a candidate negotiating to join the European Union, on 2 December 2015, Montenegro received an official invitation to join NATO, whereby it would be the 29th member country. This invitation was meant to start accession talks. The countrys name in most Western European languages reflects an adaptation of the Venetian Montenegro, many other languages, particularly nearby ones, use their own direct translation of the term black mountain. Examples are the Albanian name for the country, Mali i Zi, the Greek name Μαυροβούνιο, the Chinese name 黑山, all Slavic languages use slight variations on the Montenegrin name Crna Gora, examples include the Czech Černá Hora and the Polish Czarnogóra. Chechen and Ingush people call the country Ӏаьржаламанчоь, the name Crna Gora came to denote the majority of contemporary Montenegro only in the 15th century. The aforementioned region became known as Old Montenegro by the 19th century to distinguish it from the acquired territory of Brda. Its borders have changed little since then, losing Metohija and gaining the Bay of Kotor, the ISO Alpha-2 code for Montenegro is ME and the Alpha-3 Code is MNE. By 1000 BC, a common Illyrian language and culture had spread across much of the Balkans, interaction amongst groups was not always friendly – hill forts were the most common form of settlement – but distinctive Illyrian art forms such as amber and bronze jewellery evolved. In time, the Illyrians established a federation of tribes centred in what is now Macedonia

27.
Albania
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Albania, officially the Republic of Albania, is a country in Southeastern Europe. It has a population of 3.03 million as of 2016, Tirana is the nations capital and largest city, followed by Durrës and Vlorë. The country has a coastline on the shore of the Mediterranean Sea, the Adriatic Sea to the west. Albania is less than 72 km from Italy, across the Strait of Otranto which connects the Adriatic Sea to the Ionian Sea. In antiquity, the area of Albania was home to several Illyrian, Thracian. After the Illyrian Wars, it part of the Roman provinces of Dalmatia, Macedonia and Moesia Superior. In 1190, the first Albanian state, the Principality of Arbanon was established by archon Progon in the region of Krujë, the territory of Albania was conquered by the Ottoman Empire in the 15th century, of which it remained part of for the next five centuries. After the collapse of the Ottoman Empire in Europe, following the Balkan Wars, the Kingdom of Albania was invaded by Italy in 1939, which formed Greater Albania, before becoming a Nazi German protectorate in 1943. The following year, a socialist Peoples Republic was established under the leadership of Enver Hoxha, Albania experienced widespread social and political transformations in the communist era, as well as isolation from much of the international community. In 1991, the Socialist Republic was dissolved and the Republic of Albania was established, Albania is a democratic and developing country with an upper-middle income economy. The service sector dominates the economy, followed by the industrial. After the fall of communism in Albania, Free-market reforms have opened the country to foreign investment, especially in the development of energy, Albania has a high HDI and provides universal health care system and free primary and secondary education to its citizens. Albania is a member of the United Nations, NATO, WTO, World Bank, the Council of Europe, the OSCE and it is also an official candidate for membership in the European Union. Albania is one of the members of the Energy Community, Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation. It is home to the largest lake in Southern Europe and one of the oldest lakes in Europe, Albania is the Medieval Latin name of the country. The name may have a continuation in the name of a settlement called Albanon and Arbanon. During the Middle Ages, the Albanians called their country Arbëri or Arbëni, Albanians today call their country Shqipëri. As early as the 17th century the placename Shqipëria and the ethnic demonym Shqiptarë gradually replaced Arbëria, the two terms are popularly interpreted as Land of the Eagles and Children of the Eagles

28.
Greece
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Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, historically also known as Hellas, is a country in southeastern Europe, with a population of approximately 11 million as of 2015. Athens is the capital and largest city, followed by Thessaloniki. Greece is strategically located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, situated on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, the Republic of Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to the northeast. Greece consists of nine regions, Macedonia, Central Greece, the Peloponnese, Thessaly, Epirus, the Aegean Islands, Thrace, Crete. The Aegean Sea lies to the east of the mainland, the Ionian Sea to the west, the Cretan Sea and the Mediterranean Sea to the south. Greece has the longest coastline on the Mediterranean Basin and the 11th longest coastline in the world at 13,676 km in length, featuring a vast number of islands, eighty percent of Greece is mountainous, with Mount Olympus being the highest peak at 2,918 metres. From the eighth century BC, the Greeks were organised into various independent city-states, known as polis, which spanned the entire Mediterranean region and the Black Sea. Greece was annexed by Rome in the second century BC, becoming a part of the Roman Empire and its successor. The Greek Orthodox Church also shaped modern Greek identity and transmitted Greek traditions to the wider Orthodox World, falling under Ottoman dominion in the mid-15th century, the modern nation state of Greece emerged in 1830 following a war of independence. Greeces rich historical legacy is reflected by its 18 UNESCO World Heritage Sites, among the most in Europe, Greece is a democratic and developed country with an advanced high-income economy, a high quality of life, and a very high standard of living. A founding member of the United Nations, Greece was the member to join the European Communities and has been part of the Eurozone since 2001. Greeces unique cultural heritage, large industry, prominent shipping sector. It is the largest economy in the Balkans, where it is an important regional investor, the names for the nation of Greece and the Greek people differ from the names used in other languages, locations and cultures. The earliest evidence of the presence of human ancestors in the southern Balkans, dated to 270,000 BC, is to be found in the Petralona cave, all three stages of the stone age are represented in Greece, for example in the Franchthi Cave. Neolithic settlements in Greece, dating from the 7th millennium BC, are the oldest in Europe by several centuries and these civilizations possessed writing, the Minoans writing in an undeciphered script known as Linear A, and the Mycenaeans in Linear B, an early form of Greek. The Mycenaeans gradually absorbed the Minoans, but collapsed violently around 1200 BC and this ushered in a period known as the Greek Dark Ages, from which written records are absent. The end of the Dark Ages is traditionally dated to 776 BC, the Iliad and the Odyssey, the foundational texts of Western literature, are believed to have been composed by Homer in the 7th or 8th centuries BC. With the end of the Dark Ages, there emerged various kingdoms and city-states across the Greek peninsula, in 508 BC, Cleisthenes instituted the worlds first democratic system of government in Athens

29.
Cyprus
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Cyprus, officially the Republic of Cyprus, is an island country in the Eastern Mediterranean and the third largest and third most populous island in the Mediterranean. It is located south of Turkey, west of Syria and Lebanon, northwest of Israel and Palestine, north of Egypt, the earliest known human activity on the island dates to around the 10th millennium BC. Archaeological remains from this include the well-preserved Neolithic village of Khirokitia. Cyprus was settled by Mycenaean Greeks in two waves in the 2nd millennium BC, Cyprus was placed under British administration based on Cyprus Convention in 1878 and formally annexed by Britain in 1914. While Turkish Cypriots made up 18% of the population, the partition of Cyprus and creation of a Turkish state in the north became a policy of Turkish Cypriot leaders, following nationalist violence in the 1950s, Cyprus was granted independence in 1960. On 15 July 1974, a coup détat was staged by Greek Cypriot nationalists and elements of the Greek military junta in an attempt at enosis and these events and the resulting political situation are matters of a continuing dispute. The Cyprus Republic has de jure sovereignty over the island of Cyprus, as well as its territorial sea and exclusive economic area, another nearly 4% of the islands area is covered by the UN buffer zone. The international community considers the part of the island as territory of the Republic of Cyprus occupied by Turkish forces. The occupation is viewed as illegal under law, amounting to illegal occupation of EU territory since Cyprus became a member of the European Union. Cyprus is a major tourist destination in the Mediterranean, on 1 January 2008, the Republic of Cyprus joined the eurozone. The earliest attested reference to Cyprus is the 15th century BC Mycenaean Greek

30.
Doge of Venice
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The Doge of Venice, sometimes translated as Duke, was the chief magistrate and leader of the Most Serene Republic of Venice for 1,100 years. Doges of Venice were elected for life by the city-states aristocracy, commonly the man selected as Doge was the shrewdest elder in the city. The doge was neither a duke in the sense, nor the equivalent of a hereditary duke. The title doge was the title of the senior-most elected official of Venice and Genoa, a doge was referred to variously by the titles My Lord the Doge, Most Serene Prince, and His Serenity. After a deadlocked tie at the election of 1229, the number of electors was increased from forty to forty-one, new regulations for the elections of the doge introduced in 1268 remained in force until the end of the republic in 1797. Their object was to minimize as far as possible the influence of great families. Thirty members of the Great Council, chosen by lot, were reduced by lot to nine, the nine chose forty and the forty were reduced by lot to twelve, the twenty-five were reduced by lot to nine and the nine elected forty-five. Then the forty-five were once more reduced by lot to eleven, none could be elected but by at least twenty-five votes out of forty-one, nine votes out of eleven or twelve, or seven votes out of nine electors. A detailed description of this process, and the procession that followed, is preserved in Martin Da Canales work Les Estoires de Venise. This practice came to an end in 1423, after the election of Francesco Foscari, the doges normally ruled for life. After a doges death, a commission of inquisitori passed judgment upon his acts, the official income of the doge was never large, and from early times holders of the office remained engaged in trading ventures. These ventures kept them in touch with the requirements of the grandi, from 7 July 1268, during a vacancy in the office of doge, the state was headed ex officio, with the style vicedoge, by the senior consigliere ducale. One of the duties of the doge was to celebrate the symbolic marriage of Venice with the sea. This was done by casting a ring from the state barge, in its earlier form this ceremony was instituted to commemorate the conquest of Dalmatia by Doge Pietro II Orseolo in 1000, and was celebrated on Ascension Day. It took its later and more magnificent form after the visit of Pope Alexander III, on state occasions the Doge was surrounded by an increasing amount of ceremony, and in international relations he had the status of a sovereign prince. The doge took part in processions, which started in the Piazza San Marco. The doge would appear in the center of the procession, preceded by civil servants ranked in ascending order of prestige, from the 14th century onwards, the ceremonial crown and well-known symbol of the doge of Venice was called corno ducale, a unique kind of a ducal hat. Every Easter Monday the doge headed a procession from San Marco to the convent of San Zaccaria where the abbess presented him a new camauro crafted by the nuns, the Doges official costume also included golden robes, slippers and a sceptre for ceremonial duties

31.
Exarchate of Ravenna
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The Exarchate of Ravenna or of Italy was a center of Byzantine power in Italy, from 584 to 751, when the last exarch was put to death by the Lombards. Ravenna became the capital of the Western Roman Empire in 402 under Honorius, due to its harbour with access to the Adriatic. The city remained the capital of the Empire until its dissolution in 476, when it became the capital of Odoacer and it remained the capital of the Ostrogothic Kingdom, but in 540 during the Gothic War, Ravenna was occupied by the East Roman general Belisarius. After this reconquest it became the seat of the provincial governor, at that time, the administrative structure of Italy followed, with some modifications, the old system established by Emperor Diocletian, and retained by Odoacer and the Goths. In 568, the Lombards under their king Alboin, together with other Germanic allies, the area had only a few years ago been completely pacified, and had suffered greatly during the long Gothic War. The local Roman forces were weak, and after taking several towns and they took Pavia after a three-year siege in 572, and made it their capital. In subsequent years, they took Tuscany, others, under Faroald and Zotto, penetrated into Central and Southern Italy, where they established the duchies of Spoleto and Benevento. However, after Alboins murder in 573, the Lombards fragmented into several autonomous duchies, Emperor Justin II tried to take advantage of this, and in 576 he sent his son-in-law, Baduarius, to Italy. However, he was defeated and killed in battle, and the crises in the Balkans. Thus by the end of the 6th century the new order of powers had settled into a stable pattern, the exarchate was organised into a group of duchies which were mainly the coastal cities in the Italian peninsula since the Lombards held the advantage in the hinterland. The civil and military head of these possessions, the exarch himself, was the representative at Ravenna of the emperor in Constantinople. All this territory lies on the flank of the Apennines. Surrounding territories were governed by dukes and magistri militium more or less subject to his authority, from the perspective of Constantinople, the Exarchate consisted of the province of Italy. The Exarchate of Ravenna was not the sole Byzantine province in Italy, Byzantine Sicily formed a separate government, and Corsica and Sardinia, while they remained Byzantine, belonged to the Exarchate of Africa. The Lombards had their capital at Pavia and controlled the valley of the Po. The Lombard wedge in Italy spread to the south, and established duchies at Spoleto and Beneventum, they controlled the interior, in Rome, the pope was the real master. At the end,740, the Exarchate consisted of Istria, Venetia, Ferrara, Ravenna, with the Pentapolis, the relationship between the Pope in Rome and the Exarch in Ravenna was a dynamic that could hurt or help the empire. The Papacy could be a vehicle for local discontent, the old Roman senatorial aristocracy resented being governed by an Exarch who was considered by many a meddlesome foreigner

32.
Magister militum
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Magister militum was a top-level military command used in the later Roman Empire, dating from the reign of Constantine. Used alone, the referred to the senior military officer of the Empire. In Greek sources, the term is translated either as strategos or as stratelates, the title of magister militum was created in the 4th century, when Emperor Constantine the Great deprived the praetorian prefects of their military functions. Initially two posts were created, one as head of the troops, as the magister peditum, and one for the more prestigious horse troops. The latter title had existed since Republican times, as the second-in-command to a Roman dictator, on occasion, the offices would be combined under a single person, then styled magister equitum et peditum or magister utriusque militiae. As such they were directly in command of the mobile field army of the comitatenses, composed mostly of cavalry. Other magistri remained at the disposal of the Emperors, and were termed in praesenti. By the late 4th century, the commanders were termed simply magister militum. In the Western Roman Empire, a commander-in-chief evolved with the title of magister utriusque militiae and this powerful office was often the power behind the throne and was held by Stilicho, Flavius Aetius, Ricimer, and others. In the East, there were two generals, who were each appointed to the office of magister militum praesentalis. In the course of the 6th century, internal and external crises in the provinces often necessitated the temporary union of the regional civil authority with the office of the magister militum. In the establishment of the exarchates of Ravenna and Carthage in 584, indeed, after the loss of the eastern provinces to the Muslim conquest in the 640s, the surviving field armies and their commanders formed the first themata. Supreme military commanders sometimes also took this title in early medieval Italy, for example in the Papal States and in Venice, whose Doge claimed to be the successor to the Exarch of Ravenna. 383-385/8, Flavius Bauto, magister militum under Valentinian II 385/8-394, Arbogast, magister militum under Valentinian II and Eugenius 383–388, Andragathius after 383-408, –419, Flavius Gaudentius 425–433, Flavius Aetius 435-439, Litorius 452–456, Agrippinus 456–461, Aegidius 461/462, Agrippinus. 468–474, Julius Nepos 477–479, Onoulphus 479–481, Sabinianus Magnus 528, Ascum 529–530/1, Mundus 532–536,550, John 568–569/70, Bonus 581–582, Theognis c. 503–505, Areobindus Dagalaiphus Areobindus 505–506, Pharesmanes. 516-.518,554, Artabanes 588, Priscus 593, Priscus 593–594, Peter 594–ca. Justinian 528, Leontius 528-529, Phocas 520-538/9, Sittas 536, Germanus 536, Maxentianus 546–548, Artabanes 548/9–552, Suartuas 562, Constantinianus 582, Germanus 585–ca. In the Gesta Herwardi, the hero is several times described as magister militum by the man who translated the original Early English account into Latin

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Sovereign state
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A sovereign state is, in international law, a nonphysical juridical entity that is represented by one centralized government that has sovereignty over a geographic area. International law defines sovereign states as having a permanent population, defined territory, one government, and it is also normally understood that a sovereign state is neither dependent on nor subjected to any other power or state. The existence or disappearance of a state is a question of fact, States came into existence as people gradually transferred their allegiance from an individual sovereign to an intangible but territorial political entity, of the state. States are but one of political orders that emerged from feudal Europe, others being city states, leagues. Westphalian sovereignty is the concept of sovereignty based on territoriality. It is a system of states, multinational corporations. Sovereignty is a term that is frequently misused and that position was reflected and constituted in the notion that their sovereignty was either completely lacking, or at least of an inferior character when compared to that of civilised people. Lassa Oppenheim said There exists perhaps no conception the meaning of which is more controversial than that of sovereignty. It is a fact that this conception, from the moment when it was introduced into political science until the present day, has never had a meaning which was universally agreed upon. In the opinion of H. V. Evatt of the High Court of Australia, sovereignty is neither a question of fact, nor a question of law, but a question that does not arise at all. The right of nations to determine their own status and exercise permanent sovereignty within the limits of their territorial jurisdictions is widely recognized. The Westphalian model of sovereignty has increasingly come under fire from the non-west as a system imposed solely by Western Colonialism. What this model did was make religion a subordinate to politics and this system does not fit in the Islamic world because concepts such as separation of church and state and individual conscience are not recognised in the Islamic religion as social systems. Nation denotes a people who are believed to or deemed to share common customs, religion, language, origins, however, the adjectives national and international are frequently used to refer to matters pertaining to what are strictly sovereign states, as in national capital, international law. State refers to the set of governing and supportive institutions that have sovereignty over a definite territory, State recognition signifies the decision of a sovereign state to treat another entity as also being a sovereign state. Recognition can be expressed or implied and is usually retroactive in its effects. It does not necessarily signify a desire to establish or maintain diplomatic relations, There is no definition that is binding on all the members of the community of nations on the criteria for statehood. In actual practice, the criteria are mainly political, not legal, in international law, however, there are several theories of when a state should be recognised as sovereign

34.
Lagoon
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A lagoon is a shallow body of water separated from a larger body of water by barrier islands or reefs. Lagoons are commonly divided into coastal lagoons and atoll lagoons and they have also been identified as occurring on mixed-sand and gravel coastlines. There is an overlap between bodies of water classified as coastal lagoons and bodies of water classified as estuaries, lagoons are common coastal features around many parts of the world. Lagoons can also be man-made and used for treatment, as is the case for e. g. aerated lagoons. Lagoons are shallow, often elongated bodies of water separated from a body of water by a shallow or exposed shoal, coral reef. Some authorities include fresh water bodies in the definition of lagoon, the distinction between lagoon and estuary also varies between authorities. Richard A. Davis Jr. restricts lagoon to bodies of water with little or no fresh water inflow, and little or no tidal flow, Davis does state that the terms lagoon and estuary are often loosely applied, even in scientific literature. Timothy M. Kusky characterizes lagoons as normally being elongated parallel to the coast, while estuaries are usually drowned river valleys, coastal lagoons are classified as inland bodies of water. Many lagoons do not include lagoon in their common names, in England, The Fleet at Chesil Beach has also been described as a lagoon. In Latin America, the term laguna in Spanish, which translates to. However, sometimes it is used to describe a full-sized lake, such as Laguna Catemaco in Mexico. The brackish water lagoon may be explicitly identified as a coastal lagoon. In Portuguese the same usage is found, lagoa may be a body of sea water. Lagoon is derived from the Italian laguna, which refers to the waters around Venice, Laguna is attested in English by at least 1612, and had been Anglicized to lagune by 1673. In 1697 William Dampier referred to a Lagune or Lake of Salt water on the coast of Mexico, captain James Cook described an island of Oval form with a Lagoon in the middle in 1769. Atoll lagoons form as coral reefs grow upwards while the islands that the reefs surround subside, unlike the lagoons that form shoreward of fringing reefs, atoll lagoons often contain some deep portions. Coastal lagoons form along gently sloping coasts where barrier islands or reefs can develop off-shore, coastal lagoons do not form along steep or rocky coasts, or if the range of tides is more than 4 metres. Due to the slope of the coast, coastal lagoons are shallow

35.
Economic history of Venice
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Venice, which is situated at the far end of the Adriatic Sea, gained large scale profit of the adjacent middle European markets. As a consumer centre Venice did play a rather meaningless role, nevertheless, only the nobility or patriciate had the right to exercise the wealth-bringing long-distance trade. It was the same patriciate that erected a monopoly of political leadership and it left production and small business to the strata of its society that were not capable of becoming a member of the council - which was the visible sign of nobility. On the other hand, they provided protection against competitors, against violation of secrecy -, ab initio Venice had to face fierce competition and rivalry, especially coming from Genoa. War, whether declared or not, was the status that for four times culminated in year-long open wars. Taking and keeping control of long distance trade from Venice necessitated new means, economic success attracted - as ever - thousands of people, amongst them lots of artisans with capabilities of utmost importance. Refining and melioration, new products could develop, venices historical roots rest as far back as the Etruscan Culture. The settlements from which later on Venice grew up, could revive the late Roman trade with Northern Italy, at the same time Venice succeeded in extending its privileges in the Byzantine Empire. Byzantium as well as the Holy Roman empire were always prepared to concede privileges to the venetian traders and these far going privileges - as quarrelled as they were - formed the judicial fundament for the preponderance of the adriatic town in commercial matters. At the same time it reached its aims to overthrow the dalmatian and Italian rivals, crusades and the conquest of the Byzantine Capital opened the direct ways to the East and far into Asia. But these voyages, similar to the convoys to Flanders, Tunisia, Syria and Constantinople, required huge amounts of capital. This fact is closely combined with the reduction of barter. A long learning-process that lead to an economic policy started, including patent protection, promotion of trade. The crusades brought intensification of trade, of which Venice took profit so that it ranked first among the trading nations. Already a century before the conquest of Constantinople lots of traders colonies flourished, in addition it offered lots of opportunities to regulate the local balances of power and secured partly the means of living - especially wheat - for the mother town. The city could finance its everyday duties by revenues of the tariffs, money in its core in those days mostly consisted of gold or silver. As a consequence the economy depended heavily on the timely afflux and efflux of these metals, in addition the change rates between the currencies circulating within Venice and outsides had to be adjusted adequately. On the other hand, the nobility had hardly any scruples to force its colonies to accept change rates, in addition Italian traders were used to means of payment, which could help avoiding transportations of gold and silver that were expensive and dangerous

36.
Middle Ages
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In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or Medieval Period lasted from the 5th to the 15th century. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and merged into the Renaissance, the Middle Ages is the middle period of the three traditional divisions of Western history, classical antiquity, the medieval period, and the modern period. The medieval period is subdivided into the Early, High. Population decline, counterurbanisation, invasion, and movement of peoples, the large-scale movements of the Migration Period, including various Germanic peoples, formed new kingdoms in what remained of the Western Roman Empire. In the seventh century, North Africa and the Middle East—once part of the Byzantine Empire—came under the rule of the Umayyad Caliphate, although there were substantial changes in society and political structures, the break with classical antiquity was not complete. The still-sizeable Byzantine Empire survived in the east and remained a major power, the empires law code, the Corpus Juris Civilis or Code of Justinian, was rediscovered in Northern Italy in 1070 and became widely admired later in the Middle Ages. In the West, most kingdoms incorporated the few extant Roman institutions, monasteries were founded as campaigns to Christianise pagan Europe continued. The Franks, under the Carolingian dynasty, briefly established the Carolingian Empire during the later 8th, the Crusades, first preached in 1095, were military attempts by Western European Christians to regain control of the Holy Land from Muslims. Kings became the heads of centralised nation states, reducing crime and violence, intellectual life was marked by scholasticism, a philosophy that emphasised joining faith to reason, and by the founding of universities. Controversy, heresy, and the Western Schism within the Catholic Church paralleled the conflict, civil strife. Cultural and technological developments transformed European society, concluding the Late Middle Ages, the Middle Ages is one of the three major periods in the most enduring scheme for analysing European history, classical civilisation, or Antiquity, the Middle Ages, and the Modern Period. Medieval writers divided history into periods such as the Six Ages or the Four Empires, when referring to their own times, they spoke of them as being modern. In the 1330s, the humanist and poet Petrarch referred to pre-Christian times as antiqua, leonardo Bruni was the first historian to use tripartite periodisation in his History of the Florentine People. Bruni and later argued that Italy had recovered since Petrarchs time. The Middle Ages first appears in Latin in 1469 as media tempestas or middle season, in early usage, there were many variants, including medium aevum, or middle age, first recorded in 1604, and media saecula, or middle ages, first recorded in 1625. The alternative term medieval derives from medium aevum, tripartite periodisation became standard after the German 17th-century historian Christoph Cellarius divided history into three periods, Ancient, Medieval, and Modern. The most commonly given starting point for the Middle Ages is 476, for Europe as a whole,1500 is often considered to be the end of the Middle Ages, but there is no universally agreed upon end date. English historians often use the Battle of Bosworth Field in 1485 to mark the end of the period

37.
Renaissance
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The Renaissance was a period in European history, from the 14th to the 17th century, regarded as the cultural bridge between the Middle Ages and modern history. It started as a movement in Italy in the Late Medieval period and later spread to the rest of Europe. This new thinking became manifest in art, architecture, politics, science, Early examples were the development of perspective in oil painting and the recycled knowledge of how to make concrete. Although the invention of movable type sped the dissemination of ideas from the later 15th century. In politics, the Renaissance contributed to the development of the customs and conventions of diplomacy, the Renaissance began in Florence, in the 14th century. Other major centres were northern Italian city-states such as Venice, Genoa, Milan, Bologna, the word Renaissance, literally meaning Rebirth in French, first appeared in English in the 1830s. The word also occurs in Jules Michelets 1855 work, Histoire de France, the word Renaissance has also been extended to other historical and cultural movements, such as the Carolingian Renaissance and the Renaissance of the 12th century. The Renaissance was a movement that profoundly affected European intellectual life in the early modern period. Renaissance scholars employed the humanist method in study, and searched for realism, however, a subtle shift took place in the way that intellectuals approached religion that was reflected in many other areas of cultural life. In addition, many Greek Christian works, including the Greek New Testament, were back from Byzantium to Western Europe. Political philosophers, most famously Niccolò Machiavelli, sought to describe life as it really was. Others see more competition between artists and polymaths such as Brunelleschi, Ghiberti, Donatello, and Masaccio for artistic commissions as sparking the creativity of the Renaissance. Yet it remains much debated why the Renaissance began in Italy, accordingly, several theories have been put forward to explain its origins. During the Renaissance, money and art went hand in hand, Artists depended entirely on patrons while the patrons needed money to foster artistic talent. Wealth was brought to Italy in the 14th, 15th, and 16th centuries by expanding trade into Asia, silver mining in Tyrol increased the flow of money. Luxuries from the Eastern world, brought home during the Crusades, increased the prosperity of Genoa, unlike with Latin texts, which had been preserved and studied in Western Europe since late antiquity, the study of ancient Greek texts was very limited in medieval Western Europe. One of the greatest achievements of Renaissance scholars was to bring this entire class of Greek cultural works back into Western Europe for the first time since late antiquity, Arab logicians had inherited Greek ideas after they had invaded and conquered Egypt and the Levant. Their translations and commentaries on these ideas worked their way through the Arab West into Spain and Sicily and this work of translation from Islamic culture, though largely unplanned and disorganized, constituted one of the greatest transmissions of ideas in history

38.
City-state
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A city-state is a sovereign state that consists of a city and its dependent territories. A great deal of consensus exists that the term applies to Singapore, Monaco. A number of small states share similar characteristics, and therefore are sometimes also cited as modern city-states. Occasionally, other states with high population densities, such as San Marino, are also cited. Several non-sovereign cities enjoy a degree of autonomy, and are sometimes considered city-states. Hong Kong and Macau, along with independent members of the United Arab Emirates, most notably Dubai, scholars have classed the Viking colonial cities in medieval Ireland, most importantly Dublin, as city-states. In Cyprus, the Phoenician settlement of Kition was a city-state that existed from around 800 BC until the end of the 4th century BC. The success of regional units coexisting as autonomous actors in loose geographical and cultural unity, as in Italy and Greece. However, such small political entities often survived only for short periods because they lacked the resources to defend themselves against incursions by larger states, thus they inevitably gave way to larger organisations of society, including the empire and the nation-state. In the history of Mainland Southeast Asia, aristocratic groups, Buddhist leaders, the system existed until the 19th century when colonization by European powers, and Thailands resulted in the adoption of the modern concept of statehood. In the Holy Roman Empire the Free Imperial Cities enjoyed a considerable autonomy, some, like the three Hanseatic cities of Bremen, Hamburg and Lübeck, pooled their economic relations with foreign powers and were able to wield considerable diplomatic clout. Under Habsburg rule the city of Fiume had the status of a Corpus separatum, a later city-state, though lacking sovereignty, was West Berlin, being a state legally not belonging to any other state, but ruled by the Western Allies. They allowed – notwithstanding their overlordship as occupant powers – its internal organisation as one state simultaneously being a city, though West Berlin maintained close ties to the West German Federal Republic of Germany, it was legally never part of it. But the idea of leaving the United States proved too radical even in the turmoil of 1861 and was poorly received, the war, and especially conscription, was nevertheless often unpopular in the city, sparking the deadly New York Draft Riots. The neighboring City of Brooklyn, in contrast, was staunchly Unionist, the Free City of Danzig was a semi-autonomous city-state that existed between 1920 and 1939, consisting of the Baltic Sea port of Danzig and nearly 200 towns in the surrounding areas. It was created on 15 November 1920 under the terms of Article 100 of the 1919 Treaty of Versailles after the end of World War I. Its territory of 28 km2 comprised the city of Fiume and rural areas to its north, with a corridor to its west connecting it to Italy, the Shanghai International Settlement was an international zone with its own legal system, postal service, and currency. The Klaipėda Region or Memel Territory was defined by the Treaty of Versailles in 1920 when it was put under the administration of the Council of Ambassadors

39.
Fall of the Western Roman Empire
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The Fall of the Western Roman Empire was the process of decline in the Western Roman Empire in which it failed to enforce its rule, and its vast territory was divided into several successor polities. Increasing pressure from barbarians outside Roman culture also contributed greatly to the collapse, the reasons for the collapse are major subjects of the historiography of the ancient world and they inform much modern discourse on state failure. Relevant dates include 117 CE, when the Empire was at its greatest territorial extent, irreversible major territorial loss, however, began in 376 with a large-scale irruption of Goths and others. In 395, after winning two destructive civil wars, Theodosius I died, leaving a field army and the Empire, still plagued by Goths. Invading barbarians had established their own power in most of the area of the Western Empire, while its legitimacy lasted for centuries longer and its cultural influence remains today, the Western Empire never had the strength to rise again. The Fall is not the only unifying concept for these events, the Fall of the Western Roman Empire was the process of decline in the Western Roman Empire in which it failed to enforce its rule. The Fall is not the only unifying concept for these events, for Dio Cassius, the accession of the emperor Commodus in 180 CE marked the descent from a kingdom of gold to one of rust and iron. Gibbon started his story in 98 and Theodor Mommsen regarded the whole of the period as unworthy of inclusion in his Nobel Prize-winning History of Rome. Arnold J. Toynbee and James Burke argue that the entire Imperial era was one of decay of institutions founded in republican times. Gibbon gave a formulation of reasons why the Fall happened. He began a controversy about the role of Christianity, but he gave great weight to other causes of internal decline. The story of its ruin is simple and obvious, and, instead of inquiring why the Roman empire was destroyed, we should rather be surprised that it had subsisted so long. The victorious legions, who, in distant wars, acquired the vices of strangers and mercenaries, first oppressed the freedom of the republic, alexander Demandt enumerated 210 different theories on why Rome fell, and new ideas have emerged since. Historians still try to analyze the reasons for loss of control over a vast territory. Comparison has also made with the Han Empire in China. At least from the time of Henri Pirenne, scholars have described continuity of culture and of political legitimacy, Pirenne postponed the demise of classical civilization to the 8th century. The more recent formulation of a period characterized as Late Antiquity emphasizes the transformations of ancient to medieval worlds within a cultural continuity. In recent decades archaeologically-based argument even extends the continuity in material culture, observing the political reality of lost control, but also the cultural and archaeological continuities, the process has been described as a complex cultural transformation, rather than a fall

Magister militum (Latin for "Master of the Soldiers", plural magistri militum) was a top-level military command used in …

The original command structure of the Late Roman army, with a separate magister equitum and a magister peditum in place of the later overall magister militum in the command structure of the army of the Western Roman Empire.

The high command structure of the West Roman army ca. 410–425, based on the Notitia Dignitatum.